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Loading Metre (LDM)
A loading metre (LDM) is a unit that represents one metre of length along the floor of a truck across its full width, used to measure how much floor space a shipment occupies.
LDM is the standard way to quote and plan space for palletised and non-stackable freight in European road transport. A standard trailer is roughly 13.6 loading metres long, so a shipment occupying 2.4 metres of floor width-wide is 2 LDM. Pricing and capacity planning often use LDM rather than weight or pallet count for bulky goods.
Calculating LDM correctly prevents both under-charging and overbooking a trailer. A TMS load planner uses LDM alongside weight and stacking rules to validate that a load fits.
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How do you calculate loading metres?
Multiply the footprint length by the footprint width of the goods, divide by the trailer's internal width (typically 2.4 m), and sum across all items. Transportial offers a free LDM calculator that does this for you.
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