Benchmarking carrier operating costs across Europe
Operational and cost intelligence for a leading online marketplace.
Executive summary
When your carrier programme spans multiple markets, cost structures can shift faster than your data keeps up, and that puts real risk into every operational decision.
A leading online marketplace needed to close that gap across its pan-European carrier programme. Together, we built an annual intelligence refresh spanning four workstreams and five European markets, giving their teams a current, consolidated view of carrier cost dynamics and a repeatable model to sustain it year on year.
Challenge
Managing a carrier programme at this scale means tracking wages, overheads, insurance and profitability across markets moving at different speeds.
The client needed answers to:
- How are HGV drivers wages shifting across markets in Europe and what is driving those changes?
- What factors are driving changes in insurance premiums across traditional fuel, hybrid and electric trucks for a typical load?
- •How are different admin and back-office cost heads structured in overall P&L?
- Are CEOs (especially for small carriers) able to make sizable incomes/profits?
- What is the average overall profitability of HGV carrier companies and how will it change over time? and how will it change over time?
Their in-house research gave them a strong baseline. But inflation, labour laws, regional wage gaps, geopolitical pressure and competition had all moved the picture. They needed an update that was rigorous, comparable and fast enough to act on.
Key deliverables
A structured refresh across four workstreams and five countries, built for speed, consistency and a clear read on what was changing the numbers.
Driver wages
Updated HGV wage structures across five markets, using a consistent two-job-board methodology. We refreshed wage tiers, assessed macroeconomic impacts and extended projections to 2027 – so the client could anticipate labour cost pressure before it hit.
CEO salaries
Updated compensation benchmarks for carriers running 10 to 30 trucks, aligned to current revenue trends and business structure changes. This gave the client a practical input for incentive design and negotiation.
HGV insurance premiums
Updated motor, cargo and trailer premium estimates across every market, including one new country and deeper coverage in another. We reviewed around three providers per market and assessed renewal cycles, deductibles, payment terms and loyalty dynamics – giving the client a clearer view of cost and risk together.
Admin, back-office and P&L
Two linked workstreams built a fuller view of carrier economics. One broke overhead costs into five components – payroll and accounting, dispatcher, transport manager, general admin, and recruiting, licences and devices – as a share of revenue, for like-for-like comparison. The other benchmarked profitability and operating practices across more than ten non-programme carriers per country, with anonymised profiles of the strongest performers.
Impact
With current, comparable cost intelligence across five markets, the client made faster, more confident decisions in a carrier environment shaped by rising wages, insurance pressure and shifting operating costs.
The programme gave them:
- A forward view of wage inflation and labour cost exposure
- Clearer insight into insurance premium movements and what's driving them
- More accurate modelling of admin, back-office and carrier P&L assumption
- External benchmarks to identify stronger operating practices
- A repeatable annual model for keeping cost intelligence current and decision-ready