How to work out the real profit on every container
The rate you quote is not what you earn. By the time the container is delivered, the transporter, the fuel, the driver's allowance and a few costs nobody wrote down have all come out of it. Here is how to work out what is actually left — on every job, not once a month.
The sum, in one line
Profit on a job = what you charge the client − every cost that job caused.
That sounds obvious. The trouble is the second half: most costs are paid at different times, by different people, from different pockets — so they never sit next to the rate they belong to.
Step 1: Start with what you actually charge
Use the rate on the invoice, before VAT. If you charge VAT, it is the government's money passing through you; it is not income. If you re-bill costs to the client (for example a storage charge or a disbursement), count the re-billed amount as income and the cost as a cost, so they cancel out.
Step 2: List every cost the job caused
- Transporter — what you pay the haulier, if you hire one. If a job passes through two transporters, count both legs.
- Fuel — litres × the price you actually paid, if you run your own truck.
- Driver's allowance — per trip or per route.
- Demurrage and storage you absorb — any day the client will not pay for.
- The small ones — loading and offloading, escort, parking, permits, weighbridge, phone credit for the driver. Small, but they add up across a month.
- Disbursements you did not re-bill — anything you paid for the client and forgot to invoice.
A worked example
A 40-foot container, Mombasa to Nairobi, on your own truck. The figures are an example only — use your own.
| Rate charged to client (before VAT) | KES 185,000 |
| Fuel: 420 litres × KES 182 | − 76,440 |
| Driver's allowance (Mombasa–Nairobi) | − 3,000 |
| Loading, parking and other trip costs | − 6,500 |
| Two days' storage the client will not pay | − 9,000 |
| Profit on this container | KES 90,060 |
Notice the storage line. Two days nobody flagged cost more than the driver's allowance and the trip costs combined. That is why the demurrage clock matters as much as the rate.
Step 3: Do it for every job, the day it finishes
A monthly profit figure tells you that something went wrong. A per-job figure tells you which job, which client and which route — while you can still do something about it: re-quote the client, change the transporter, or chase the storage charge.
The three mistakes we see most
- Counting VAT as income. It inflates every number and hides a loss-making route.
- Forgetting the second transporter on a job that changed hands.
- Never adding the absorbed demurrage back to the job that caused it — so the job looks profitable and the month does not.
Let Managix do this sum for every job
Managix works out the profit on every container and trip as you enter it — fleet, cargo and clearing in one system, from USD 19 a month.
Questions
Should VAT be included when calculating profit per container?
No. VAT you charge belongs to the tax authority; it passes through you. Work out profit on the rate before VAT.
How often should a transporter calculate profit per job?
On every job, the day it is completed. A monthly total shows that money was lost; a per-job figure shows which client, route or transporter lost it.