Chargeable weight: how many kg is a loading metre?
Chargeable weight is the number a groupage carrier actually invoices, and it is rarely the number on your weighbridge ticket. It is the greater of two things: the loading metres your consignment occupies, and its gross weight divided by the ratio in the rate card - most often 1,750 kg per loading metre.
Get that wrong and the quote you budgeted for and the invoice you receive describe two different shipments. Below: what the ratio is, where it comes from, and how to work out in advance which of the two limits will decide your price.
What chargeable weight means on a groupage quote
Two limits apply to every part load at the same time. One is floor space: your goods block a strip of trailer that nobody else can use. The other is payload: your goods eat into the tonnage the vehicle is legally allowed to carry. A carrier loses money on whichever you exhaust first, so the rate card bills whichever comes out higher.
Chargeable LDM = the greater of: loading metres occupied, or gross weight / 1,750.
That is the whole mechanism. Everything else - minimum charges, rounding rules, surcharges - sits on top of this one comparison. If your freight is light and bulky, you pay for space. If it is dense, you pay for weight, and the space you occupy stops being relevant to the price.
Where the 1,750 kg figure comes from
The ratio says nothing about your goods. It comes from dividing what a vehicle may legally carry by how much length it has to carry it in. A standard curtainsider offers 13.6 m of loading space, so 13.6 LDM, and a 40-tonne articulated combination usually leaves around 24 tonnes for cargo:
24,000 kg / 13.6 LDM = about 1,765 kg per loading metre.
Carriers round that down to 1,750 kg, which leaves a margin for pallet weight, load securing and variation in tractor tare. There is no regulation or standard behind it. It is a commercial convention, widespread enough that most European groupage tariffs use it without spelling it out.
Worked example: the same two pallets, two invoices
Take two euro pallets, identical footprint, and change only the weight:
- Light consignment. 2 euro pallets at 300 kg gross. Space: 2 × 0.4 = 0.8 LDM. Weight: 600 / 1,750 = 0.34 LDM. Charged on 0.8 LDM - the floor decides.
- Dense consignment. 2 euro pallets at 1,200 kg gross. Space: still 0.8 LDM. Weight: 2,400 / 1,750 = 1.37 LDM. Charged on 1.37 LDM - the weight decides.
Nearly 0.6 of a loading metre separates two consignments that look identical on the loading bay. That is why "how much room does it take" is never a complete answer to "what will it cost".
Weight thresholds by pallet format
The threshold is simply the loading metres occupied multiplied by the ratio. Weights below are gross - pallet and securing included.
| Load unit | LDM occupied | Threshold weight |
|---|---|---|
| Euro pallet 1200 × 800 mm | 0.4 LDM | 700 kg |
| Industrial pallet 1200 × 1000 mm | 0.5 LDM | 875 kg |
| Half pallet 800 × 600 mm | 0.2 LDM | 350 kg |
| 33 euro pallets | 13.2 LDM | 23,100 kg |
| Full 13.6 m trailer | 13.6 LDM | 23,800 kg |
Read it as a switch: below 700 kg gross a euro pallet costs 0.4 LDM, above it every further 1,750 kg adds another loading metre - even though the pallet still stands on the same 0.96 m² of floor.
The last row explains where the ratio was set. A trailer loaded to its weight limit lands at 23,800 kg, comfortably inside a typical 24-tonne payload.
Linear metre, loading metre, LDM - one unit, three names
UK and Irish rate cards usually say linear metre or LM; continental European ones say loading metre or LDM, from the German Lademeter. They mean the same thing: one metre of trailer length across the full working width, conventionally 2.4 m.
The ratio bolted to that unit is where the variation actually lives, and it is a contract term rather than a standard:
- 1,500 kg per metre - a cautious figure, common on UK and Irish domestic rate cards and on routes with lower weight limits.
- 1,750 kg per metre - the default across European groupage and the basis of the examples here.
- 1,850-2,000 kg per metre - heavy-goods tariffs, where the vehicle is specified for mass rather than volume.
A Mega or double-deck trailer changes none of this. It carries more volume, but the floor is still 13.6 m long and the payload can be slightly lower because of the heavier build.
Getting the number right before you request a quote
Four steps, a few minutes:
- Work out the loading metres occupied: add up the footprints of the pallets standing on the floor and divide by 2.4. Stacked pallets count once, because the upper layer takes no extra floor.
- Total the gross weight, pallets included. An empty euro pallet is around 25 kg, so thirty-three of them add 825 kg before you load a single carton - the figures per format are in our article on how much a euro pallet weighs.
- Divide that weight by the ratio in the tariff.
- Take the greater of the two. That is your chargeable weight.
Step one is where most estimates go wrong, because it needs the load arranged rather than merely added up. Pallet3D reports loading metres straight on the pallet and trailer results bars, calculated from the floor area a layout genuinely occupies - there is a walkthrough on the LDM calculator page, and the underlying formula with a per-format conversion table is in 1 LDM - how many pallets is that?.
One last thing worth asking a carrier outright: how they round. Some bill in whole loading metres, some in tenths, and two quotes at the same rate per LDM can still produce different invoices for the same pallets.
Frequently asked questions
What is chargeable weight in road freight?
It is the figure a carrier actually invoices, and it is the greater of two things: the loading metres your consignment occupies, and its gross weight divided by the ratio in the tariff - usually 1,750 kg per loading metre. Light freight is charged on space, dense freight on weight, and the tariff decides where the line falls.
How many kg is one loading metre?
Around 1,750 kg on most European groupage tariffs. The figure is not a standard: it comes from dividing a trailer payload of roughly 24 tonnes by 13.6 loading metres, which gives about 1,765 kg, rounded down. UK and Irish rate cards sometimes quote 1,500 kg per linear metre, and heavy-goods tariffs go up to 2,000 kg.
How heavy can a euro pallet be before it costs more than 0.4 LDM?
At 1,750 kg per loading metre a euro pallet stays within its 0.4 LDM up to 700 kg gross. A 1200 × 1000 mm industrial pallet occupies 0.5 LDM, so its threshold is 875 kg. Past those weights the carrier bills the weight and the floor area stops mattering.
Check your loading metres in 3D
Arrange the pallets, read the occupied LDM off the results bar and compare it with your gross weight. The demo runs in the browser, no account needed.
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