Regular volumes deserve dedicated trucks; irregular ones suit the spot market. Here is how to decide — and how to combine both.
Businesses that ship by truck in Saudi Arabia usually start with spot FTL — booking a vehicle whenever a load is ready. As volumes grow and become predictable, many move to a dedicated fleet: trucks and drivers assigned exclusively to their operation on a monthly or annual contract. Each model has clear advantages.
Spot FTL: flexibility first
You book a truck only when you need it, pay per trip, and can scale up or down instantly. It suits seasonal businesses, project cargo, and companies with fewer than a handful of loads per week. The trade-off is price volatility and no guarantee of capacity during peak periods such as Ramadan and Eid.
Dedicated fleet: control and certainty
A dedicated fleet gives you guaranteed vehicles every day, drivers who know your sites and products, fixed monthly pricing and the option to brand the trucks. Service levels are contractual, and the fleet can be specified to your needs — reefers for cold chain, dual-chamber vehicles, tail-lifts for store deliveries. It suits distributors, FMCG brands, retailers and manufacturers with daily or weekly routes.
Comparing the two
- Cost: spot is cheaper at low volumes; dedicated wins once utilisation passes roughly 60 to 70 percent.
- Capacity: spot depends on the market; dedicated is guaranteed.
- Service: dedicated drivers deliver consistent handling and customer experience.
- Management: dedicated fleets remove fleet ownership, maintenance and driver HR from your balance sheet.
The hybrid approach
Most mature operations combine both: a dedicated core fleet sized for baseline demand, topped up with spot FTL during peaks. This keeps utilisation high without sacrificing coverage.
TQM International provides both spot FTL and customised dedicated fleet solutions across the Kingdom, including monthly contracts with performance reporting and GPS visibility.
