A backhaul is the trip back toward a truck’s home base or next region after it has delivered a load. The goal is to book paying freight for that return leg rather than driving back empty.
Backhauls matter to a dispatcher’s bottom line: a truck that returns loaded earns on both directions of a trip, while one that runs back empty — a dead head — covers fuel and hours with no revenue. Finding good backhaul freight is a big part of keeping trucks profitable.