Industrial Strategy must acknowledge strategic importance of logistics, says Logistics UK
Tuesday 26 November 2024
Logistics UK, the UK’s largest logistics trade association, has submitted its final response to the UK government’s Industrial Strategy consultation. A top priority for the organisation is for the strategy to acknowledge logistics’ role in underpinning the economy and create the policy environment for the sector to thrive and drive growth throughout the economy.
The Industrial Strategy Green Paper has identified eight sectors as having the highest growth-driving potential and describes how the final Industrial Strategy will include policies for subsectors on which these sectors have critical dependencies. According to Logistics UK, effective logistics is critical to underpin at least five of the highest potential growth-driving sectors, namely advance manufacturing, clean energy industries, life sciences, defence and creative industries.
Logistics UK Deputy Director Policy Michelle Gardner says, “The prosperity of the logistics sector and productivity of the economy are completely intertwined. Logistics must be recognised as a foundational sector with policies prioritised to enable growth across the whole economy. By establishing the right partnerships, regulations and investment for logistics, the government can deliver productivity gains that will boost the UK economy by up to £8 billion per year by 20301.”
According to Oxford Economics the public sector and other private sector businesses spent 15% of their total input-related spending on logistics services in 2019 which, as outlined in Logistics UK’s submission to the government, shows how critically important the sector is to the UK’s overall economy. The business group also outlined how logistics has a key role to play in helping industry ensure the quality and consistency of its output, expand markets, increase sales and help sectors reduce carbon emissions.
Ms Gardner continues, “Logistics’ case to be considered a foundational sector is clear: transport and logistics must be embedded into The Industrial Strategy’s objectives, given it will be integral to supporting the expansion of the highest potential growth-driving sectors. The sector’s investment in its efficiency, automation and skills base cascades through the economy.”
Logistics UK’s submission also outlines how the strategic importance of logistics and transport to the UK’s industrial future must be reflected in the Industrial Strategy Council. The business group has recommended that, as the voice of the sector, Logistics UK sits on both the Council and the Forum, as well as the interim Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, to ensure efficiency and productivity gains across the logistics sector are realised.
Logistics UK is one of the UK’s leading business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With decarbonisation, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods. For more information about the organisation and its work, please get in touch - here.
Source:
1 Oxford Economics, Logistics: Delivering a solution to the UK's productivity puzzle, September 2023
