Optimism in spite of challenges, according to this year’s Industry Monitor report

We are delighted to share with you our latest state of the nation style report – the Industry Monitor 2022 – produced in collaboration with the teams at Motor Transport and Commercial Motor, which was officially launched at this year’s Road Transport Expo event.

The report includes the results of a survey carried out with 256 senior leaders from haulage and logistics firms, operators, public sector and municipal waste organisations, who all answered a series of questions about the challenges and opportunities facing our sector as well as their own business plans and growth.

It also includes personal contributions from the leaders of well-known fleets including ArrowXL, Bullet Express, CEVA Logistics, DHL, Gist, Maxi Haulage, Roger Warnes Transport, Turners (Soham) and XPO Logistics, alongside views from Logistics UK, the Road Haulage Association, the SMMT and Zemo Partnership.

And we are also grateful for updates from DAF, IVECO, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Scania, Tevva and Volvo on the latest developments when it comes to alternatively fuelled vehicles.

The results

We are all aware of a number of ongoing challenges facing our industry – listed in order of priority according to our survey respondents as: rising fuel costs, driver shortage, rising operational costs, legislation and ongoing effects of the pandemic.

And it was disappointing, though perhaps not surprising, that fewer operators are planning to grow their business this year compared to the last survey we held in 2019.

However, there was also optimism among fleets which is shared by our CEO Willie Paterson.

He says: “There’s no doubt that our sector has proved over the past two years just how resilient and innovative it can be. While many challenges still lie ahead, I believe every challenge brings huge opportunity and I’m encouraged to see this belief shared by several senior leaders at some of the most well-known businesses in our industry.

“I’m also pleased to see optimism about growth and opportunities from the majority of our survey respondents with some 70% planning to add extra trucks to their fleets this year and it’s positive that 61% expect to be operating alternatively fuelled vehicles.

“I sincerely hope this Industry Monitor proves useful to your business as you plan for the rest of 2022 and beyond.”

DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY HERE