Should-Cost Intelligence
Road Freight Should-Cost Intelligence

Know your true transport cost — before you negotiate.

Frintelis rebuilds each lane from real carrier economics, so you can see what a well-run carrier should need to charge, where you're overpaying, and how much is on the table.

Start a lane analysis
Enter a route, vehicle setup and current rate to build a bottom-up should-cost and see the negotiation opportunity.

Single Lane Analysis

Build the should-cost for one origin–destination lane and see where the current rate sits against it.

Open→

What should this lane actually cost?

A bottom-up should-cost engine for European road freight. Built from real carrier operating economics — labour, fuel, tolls, depreciation, maintenance — not market quotes.

15vehicle types
27country labour curves
OSMrouting & geocoding
CO₂emissions tracking

Lane inputs

1
Lane
Where the freight moves. Origin, destination and how often.

Origin

Destination

km
/yr
km
2
Equipment
Equipment and operating setup — the choices that move the cost most.
yr
3
Commercial
What you pay today, and the rates you are benchmarking against.
EUR
Log carrier rate (real market data)
EUR
EUR
4
Advanced assumptions
Standard market assumptions are applied automatically. Professional users can review and override the complete cost model.
l/100km
t
hr
hr
#
Tolls & special crossings (route-specific)
Auto mode: when origin and destination are in the same country, all km are assigned to that country. For cross-border lanes, distance is split 50/50 between origin and destination — an approximation that is wrong for asymmetric routes (e.g. München-Paris is closer to 35% DE / 65% FR, not 50/50). Switch to Country segments for accuracy or Manual lump to enter the IMPARGO total.
EUR
Asset depreciation inputs (2026 market defaults — edit to override)
EUR
EUR
km
km
%
%
%
Depreciation formula: €/km = (price × (1 − residual)) / lifetime_km. Truck and trailer computed separately and summed. Then scaled by utilisation factor (carrier productive km share) and the age curve above. Defaults source: Autoline / Truck1 / ClassTrucks Q4 2025 listings for the 8 major brands (Mercedes Actros, Volvo FH, DAF XG/XF, Scania R, MAN TGX, Renault T, Iveco S-Way, Ford F-Max); trailer prices from Schmitz Cargobull / Krone new listings 2025; lifetime km from ICCT 2023 VECTO study (1.2M km long-haul Euro 6).
km
€/hr
%
€/km
Lifecycle model: ~20 maintenance events per brand (engine oil, filters, brakes, tyres, DPF, statutory inspections, etc.) with intervals from OEM service plans where available and market estimates otherwise. Sources: Volvo Trucks press releases on VDS-4 oil intervals (long-haul 72k km, DPF 640k km); DAF/Scania/Mercedes Actros service plan literature; ACEA/IRU fleet data on tyre wear; BAS Parts / TruckParts.de 2025 parts pricing benchmarks. Each event flagged with source confidence (H/M/L) — see the full table in the result panel after calculating.
Cost-base assumptions
%
%
/km
/day

Results

Should-cost model
∑
Ready to model a lane
Set your lane parameters and run the engine to see the full
should-cost breakdown, route map, market benchmark and sensitivity.
Methodology

Carrier economics, not market quotes

Market tools tell you what others pay. Frintelis tells you what a well-run carrier should economically need to charge — a defensible baseline for negotiation, RFQ prioritisation and finance-grade savings logic.

01

Time & labour

Driving time from vehicle/range speed, plus loading. Country-specific driver cost per hour with overnight allowances above 12h.

02

Fuel & tolls

Diesel from the EC Weekly Oil Bulletin (60 weeks of history per country). Tolls and ferries entered per route — copy from IMPARGO planner or carrier quote until routing integration is built.

03

Age-curved assets

Truck + trailer depreciation scaled by vehicle age (declining-balance), with rising maintenance multiplier on older equipment.

04

BI for procurement

Market benchmark, lane scorecard, CO₂ emissions, sensitivity, finance-defensible savings classification.

← Single Lane Analysis

Scenario Comparison

Set up a lane in Single Lane Analysis, then compare equipment options here.
No lane configured yet. Open Single Lane Analysis, enter an origin, destination and distance, then return here to compare trailer types side by side on the same lane.
← All workflows

RFQ / Tender Analysis

Paste or upload your lanes with current rates and annual volumes. Frintelis builds a should-cost baseline for every lane, then ranks where the savings are — by annual value and how far each rate sits above the modelled cost.

Import lanes

One lane per line, comma-separated. Columns: origin, destination, distance km, truck, annual trips, current rate €/trip. Origin/destination are 2-letter country codes (DE, RO, FR…). Truck is optional — leave blank for mega trailer. A header row is detected and skipped automatically.
Truck defaults to mega trailer when blank.
Rank by
← All workflows
RFQ / Tender

Carrier Economics

Most tools only show the shipper's view. Frintelis shows both, so you know how much margin a rate actually carries.

  • Carrier-side revenue, cost stack and margin for the lane.
  • Where the rate goes: fuel, driver, tolls, equipment, overhead.
  • Margin sensitivity to the lane rate, fuel, utilisation and empty running.
Now live inside Single Lane Analysis — run a lane and open the Carrier economics panel to switch between the shipper and carrier perspectives.
← All workflows

Executive Overview

The portfolio at a glance: what you're spending, where you're overpaying, and what to do next — built from every lane you've saved, plus any tender you paste in.
No saved lanes yet.
Or paste a tender (same format as RFQ)
← All workflows
Saved analyses

Saved Projects

One place for everything you've worked on, so you can pick up a lane or tender exactly where you left it.

  • Saved lanes, scenarios and tender analyses in a single list.
  • Reopen, duplicate or update any saved analysis.
  • Shared across your team once accounts are set up.
Scenario saving already works inside Single Lane Analysis — this view will collect them all.