Logistics is a sector delivering an increasingly safe, sustainable and efficient system of national infrastructure – creating opportunities across the UK and linking the UK to the global trade network. Spanning land, water and air, it delivers for everyone, everywhere, every day.
Logistics delivers big public value on small margins, ensuring the availability of the products households, businesses and public services rely on. It moves goods more than 200 billion tonne kilometres within the UK per year and enables the trade of more than £1 trillion of goods, while working hard to avoid adding pressure to the cost of living. This is a challenge with fuel and energy costs at a historic high, and restrictions on logistics growing.
The sector delivers smart, green and resilient growth and jobs. It contributes £163 billion to the economy each year (12% of UK non-financial GVA), employs 2.7 million people (8.2% of the UK workforce) and is becoming ever more innovative and integrated – within businesses and between logistics sites and transport modes. Its key hubs provide a catalyst for further growth and investment, helping places to thrive.
Logistics delivers for the future, as an essential system for growth. It underpins the whole economy, with an economic footprint three times larger than its direct GVA contribution and, by putting logistics first, with the right partnerships, regulations and investment, government can supercharge the UK.
In the short term, the logistics sector is calling for policies that enable it to manage pressures on the costs and efficiency of doing business. For the longer-term, the sector is calling for:
- Innovative and integrated infrastructure
- A fair transition to a green economy
- Skills partnership to support a thriving sector
- Trade backed as a driver of innovation and productivity