What does LDM (loading meter) stand for?
A loading meter is a unit used to describe the length occupied by a certain cargo with a given length and width. Loading meter are a good indicator for the usage of a truck and are used during planning and accounting to calculate and price available capacity in a vehicle.
How are loading meters calculated?
To clarify this, let’s take a standard semi-trailer as an example, which is usually 13.6 meters long, about 2.7 meters high, and approximately 2.4 meters wide. Regardless of the actual height and width of the load, one loading meter is always considered as one meter of the length of the loading area. Therefore, the number of loading meters of a truck always corresponds to the length of the loading area—in this case, it would be 13.6 loading meters (LDM).
Step-by-step Calculation of Loading Meters:
Depending on the combination of load carriers, such as Euro-pallets, a different number of identical load carriers can occupy the same number of loading meters. In the following example, the left combination of 4 identical load carriers takes up one loading meter, while the middle combination of 2 identical load carriers also requires one loading meter. The right load carrier also occupies one loading meter. In total, these three combinations occupy 3 loading meters.
In addition to width, height, and depth, the stackability of the load carriers also influences the number of loading meters required for a load.
