What does haulage mean?
Haulage is the transportation of goods by road, usually in lorries, trucks, or other commercial vehicles. It can refer to a particular journey or operation, as in a haulage contract, or to the business as a whole, as in a haulage company. The word is especially common in British English and is associated with freight, distribution, logistics, and the movement of bulky or commercial loads. Although it can describe the general act of carrying something heavy, its usual modern meaning concerns road transport for business rather than ordinary personal transport. Haulage is useful because it identifies not simply movement from one place to another, but the organized commercial activity of moving goods overland. In American English, trucking and freight transportation may be preferred in some contexts, but haulage remains readily understood and is often used in international logistics.
nounThe transportation of goods by road, especially by commercial vehicles; the business or activity of carrying freight overland. The term can also refer more broadly to the act of hauling or moving heavy loads.
- Transportation of goods by road, especially by commercial vehicles.
- The business or industry of transporting freight overland.
- The act of moving or pulling a heavy load.
"The company specializes in long-distance haulage across Europe."
"The haulage firm uses a fleet of articulated lorries to move goods between distribution centers."
"Road haulage costs rose sharply when fuel prices increased."
The plural is grammatically possible but uncommon; discussions of the industry generally use the uncountable singular.
"The meeting brought together several regional haulages."
From one heavy pull to an entire industry: haulage is the business of getting freight from A to B.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does haulage come from?
Haulage was formed in English by adding the suffix -age to haul, a word that entered English through Old French haler, meaning “to pull” or “draw,” from a Germanic source. The compound developed in the commercial vocabulary of road transport during the nineteenth century. Related words such as hauler and haulyard preserve the same central idea of pulling, lifting, or carrying, while Dutch halen and German holen reflect cognate Germanic vocabulary for fetching or drawing.
How haulage is actually used
Haulage is most common in British English and has a distinctly commercial or logistical tone. In American English, transportation, trucking, and freight are often more usual alternatives.
Easily confused with haulage
Haulage is the transportation service or activity, whereas a haulier is a person or company that transports goods by road.
A haul is an individual load or the act of pulling it, while haulage generally refers to the commercial transportation of goods.