Reconcile fuel, vehicle kilometres and freight activity on a multi-drop tour

Fictional multi-drop tour: use the payload carried on each actual leg. 80 km × 10 t + 40 km × 6 t + 40 km × 4 t + 40 km × 0 t = 1,200 actual loaded tonne-km. The truck travels 200 vehicle-km, including 40 km empty; 10 tonnes of distinct goods are loaded once. Empty travel remains in the vehicle movement record even when its freight mass-distance is zero. No fuel split, emissions, customer allocation or conformity result is implied.

A delivery tour can produce three valid totals that answer different questions: fuel used within a tank-reading window, distance travelled by the vehicle, and freight mass carried over distance. Keep the records at those three levels. Joining them into a dispatch export must not multiply the fuel, count the same goods again or erase an empty return.

This worked example helps fleet operations, dispatch, fuel-control and inventory teams prepare traceable activity inputs. All records and quantities below are fictional. It calculates no emissions or customer allocation.

Keep three linked records

• Tour record: one tour ID, vehicle and tank, opening and closing times, stock readings and in-window fuel receipts. Store the resulting fuel estimate once.

• Leg record: one row per successive vehicle movement, linked to the tour, with start and end locations, odometer readings and the load carried during that leg.

• Consignment record: one identifiable goods movement, with its mass, loading point, delivery point and the legs it travelled aboard. Delivery events explain how the next leg's load changes.

Retain source-record references and units beside the values. A receipt and a fuel-card entry may represent one refuelling event; match their event details before counting both. If a join repeats the tour's 60-litre total on three consignment rows, summing that column produces a false 180 litres. Aggregate fuel from unique tour records, distance from unique legs and goods from unique consignment records.

Fix the fictional tour boundary

Truck V-030 makes tour T-030 from Depot D at 06:00 and returns at 14:00 on the same fictional day. The opening and closing readings refer to the same tank immediately before departure and after return. The movement log includes every kilometre within that interval, including any refuelling detour. There is no other trip or tank exchange.

Three consignments are loaded once at D: 4 tonnes for A, 2 for B and 4 for C. Mass consistently includes the goods and their declared shipper packaging, excluding vehicle tare. There are no collections, redeliveries, transfers, residual goods or return pallets or containers.

Fuel check: 80 litres opening stock + 30 litres added − 50 litres closing stock = 60 litres estimated consumption. The receipt is counted once. The estimate assumes compatible readings and fuel units, complete receipts, and no leak, spill, transfer or other tank draw. It includes engine running and idling in the selected window; no auxiliary equipment draws from this tank in this example.

No direct fuel-flow measurement is supplied. Before using a real balance, check the measurement method, calibration or record quality, conditions and uncertainty, and obtain reviewer acceptance. Keep an unexplained difference unresolved rather than forcing it into combustion.

Fuel purchased and fuel consumed can differ because stocks change or fuel is lost. US EPA mobile-combustion guidance, December 2023, section 4.1, pages 6–7, supports this evidence check; it is a technical reference here, not an Indian legal requirement.

Rebuild the load on each leg

Use the cargo actually aboard while the truck travels. Record the delivery at the end of the leg before calculating the next load.

Leg 1 from D to A

Odometer: 50,200 to 50,280 km. The truck travels 80 km with 10 tonnes: 80 × 10 = 800 actual loaded tonne-km. Delivering 4 tonnes at A leaves 6 tonnes aboard.

Leg 2 from A to B

Odometer: 50,280 to 50,320 km. The truck travels 40 km with 6 tonnes: 40 × 6 = 240 actual loaded tonne-km. Delivering 2 tonnes at B leaves 4 tonnes aboard.

Leg 3 from B to C

Odometer: 50,320 to 50,360 km. The truck travels 40 km with 4 tonnes: 40 × 4 = 160 actual loaded tonne-km. Delivering 4 tonnes at C leaves no freight aboard.

Leg 4 from C to D

Odometer: 50,360 to 50,400 km. The truck returns 40 km with zero freight: 40 × 0 = 0 actual loaded tonne-km. Keep those 40 vehicle-km. Zero freight mass-distance does not establish zero fuel use or zero emissions. These records provide no leg-level fuel split.

Check the totals at their own level

• Vehicle movement: 80 + 40 + 40 + 40 = 200 vehicle-km, agreeing with 50,400 − 50,200. This comprises 160 loaded and 40 empty vehicle-km.

• Actual loaded mass-distance: 800 + 240 + 160 + 0 = 1,200 actual loaded tonne-km.

• Distinct goods: 4 + 2 + 4 = 10 tonnes loaded and delivered. Adding the onboard snapshots, 10 + 6 + 4, gives 20 tonnes of repeated cargo observations.

• Tour fuel: retain the 60-litre stock-balance estimate once, covering the full 06:00–14:00 interval. Its measurement assumptions remain attached.

Multiplying the starting 10 tonnes by all 200 km gives 2,000 tonne-km; using only the 160 loaded kilometres gives 1,600. Both retain cargo after it was delivered. Reconstructing each load change prevents that error.

Independent consignment check: A's 4 tonnes travel 80 km; B's 2 tonnes travel 120 km; C's 4 tonnes travel 160 km. Thus 4 × 80 + 2 × 120 + 4 × 160 = 320 + 240 + 640 = 1,200 actual loaded tonne-km. These are the goods' actual paths aboard the same truck. Their distances sum to 360 km because shared road legs repeat; that sum is not truck distance. This check assigns no fuel or emissions to a customer.

These separate vehicle-distance, carried-mass-distance and goods totals follow the distinction in Eurostat's Road freight transport methodology, 2025 edition revised, published in 2026: pages 79–80, 178 and 195. It is a statistical reference, not Indian law or an emissions-method denominator.

Hand the reconciled records to the chosen method

The 1,200 actual loaded tonne-km is not automatically standardized GLEC activity. GLEC Framework v3.2, October 2025, pages 21–24, 48 and 119, uses defined distance conventions, including shortest feasible distance, and prefers notional point-to-point activity for delivery-round allocation. Its round-trip guidance includes loaded and empty travel.

GHG Protocol's Category 4 guidance, 2013, pages 52 and 55, makes unladen-backhaul emissions optional in its fuel-based method. Its distance-based method prefers actual distances when available (page 57). This differs from GLEC's distance and empty-trip conventions. Do not alter the physical tank-window reconciliation to merge those conventions; document the selected method separately.

Pass on the three linked records, their units, time coverage, distance and mass definitions, source references and unresolved measurement issues. Ask the method owner to confirm reporting boundary, intended service population, fuel type and blend, energy coverage, factor version and units, distance convention and any required allocation. Keep any standardized distance field separate from the observations.

The checks establish internal consistency under the fictional assumptions. They do not validate the instruments, establish a representative fleet intensity, prove conformity with a standard or produce a complete footprint. No default factor, fuel-efficiency assumption or customer share is supplied.

Prepare a usable handover

For help organising activity records and identifying evidence gaps, see Nitium Advisory's carbon inventory support. Send a non-confidential summary of the tour records available, the intended use and the unresolved question so an appropriate scope can be discussed.

Sources checked 13 October 2026.