Spotlight on James Hardiman, Senior Research Manager, Logistics UK  

Before joining Logistics UK, I worked in the retail industry, so moving to logistics is a refreshing change and also rewarding to gain knowledge on a different part of the supply chain.  

At the moment, I am spending a lot of time analysing the consequences of the shifting tariff and trade conditions, which have been continuously changing since the start of the year. It is important for us to understand what these changes mean for logistics and to be able to describe the implications of these changes for the economy. The big challenge with this is navigating how quickly plans are changing from day to day and how best to communicate the information.

Trade volumes tend to be volatile week to week and are particularly susceptible to changes in cost. It is therefore important that companies in the logistics sector are as informed as possible to potential shocks in the future, and it is part of my job to help members stay up to date on this.  

As well as monitoring global and UK-wide economic trends, much of our data comes from our own research, including insights from members in our surveys. We have recently just closed our quarterly member survey, the Logistics Performance Tracker, which is released in April, July, and October each year.

I am now analysing the data, kindly provided by our members, which will form the backbone to the short, forthcoming report, and which is shared with survey respondents, providing a snapshot of the sector and economic issues.

The survey assesses current trading conditions for our members and their expectations for the future and also includes questions around recent policy changes. For example, in the Q1 survey, we asked about innovation and the impact of the national insurance cost rises. It is important for us to have a good understanding of the issues that matter most to our members.  

The insight gathered through our surveys is particularly useful to the wider Policy team so they can help us influence and best represent members’ views when engaging with government and important stakeholders, as well as shape the appropriate policy positions.  

Alongside the Logistics Performance Tracker survey and closely monitoring trading conditions, the past few months have been spent writing our Logistics Report 2025. This is our annual headline report that describes the sector and covers UK logistics, connectivity, efficiency, decarbonisation, international trade and future trends.

I am particularly proud of the work that we have put into the Logistics Report and hope our members find it valuable when it is launched at the upcoming Logistics UK annual conference next month.   

In the meantime, our Manager’s Guide to Distribution Cost survey is currently live. This is our longest running survey and something we are very proud to continue. It is a key resource for transport managers and freight forwarders for benchmarking business’ quarterly costs for wages, vehicle operating costs and haulage rates. If any members are interested in this, the survey is still live and members can complete it here.  

My main ask of members is to engage with us through our surveys and publications. The surveys are a key part of membership, and I encourage members to take part in them for us to best respond to government consultations accordingly and represent member views.

I am also always interested to hear directly from members about our work and happy to discuss topics further. I am especially keen to understand from members on how we can help them and better provide value through our publications. Logistics as a sector is often misunderstood, and so any way to help tell the story of logistics in an engaging and impactful way is an important part of my role.  

Published On: 15/05/2025 14:00:00

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