Business group Logistics UK’s latest annual report has revealed that 66.4% of respondents plan for investment in electrification.
The annual Logistics Report 2026 showed the sector contributes £175 billion annually to the UK economy, a 3% increase year on year, and employs 8% of the UK’s workforce.
Combining the latest official statistics with insight from industry experts, it showed that 64.3% of respondents indicated an intention to invest in vehicle technologies, also reflecting the adoption of cleaner vehicles.
It also revealed that ensuring continuity of trade, and enabling businesses and consumers to access goods reliably, logistics has “not only supported the economy through recent disruption but actively helped to sustain it”, it added.
Investment plans reflected the importance of data and digital transformation with significant proportions of respondents on the study expecting to invest in fleet management data systems (57.4%); transport planning and route optimisation technologies (50.7%) and data systems for order processing, inventory management and overall supply chain control (52%).
The report also reflects the importance of hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) with 41.8% of respondents adopting the technology, with the report suggesting this is likely “because the fuel reduces carbon emissions significantly and can often be used in existing diesel engines without major vehicle modifications”, it said.
The group said that the UK’s logistics sector was a “critical, stabilising economic force” during recent global events, and responds “with speed, agility and resilience to keep the country’s growth prospects moving upwards”.
Speaking at the report’s launch during Logistics UK’s Annual Conference, Chief Executive Ben Fletcher said “the industry is making significant investment in decarbonisation,” with major charging hubs have opened in key strategic locations in the East Midlands and Tilbury. Electric HGVs have also travelled into continental Europe through the Channel Tunnel for the first time demonstrating that range anxiety will soon be a thing of the past for eHGVs.
Fletcher added:
“With the sector increasing its annual GVA contribution to £175 billion, it is clear that logistics is the engine room of the UK economy. Nothing moves without logistics and it is our sector that works round the clock finding solutions to disruptions in the supply chain, however big or small, so businesses and consumers can get on with their lives as normal.”
“Ensuring operational requirements can be met will always be the main consideration for logistics operators implementing their decarbonisation strategies, and Logistics UK has consistently been calling for a fair decarbonisation transition, supported by action to tackle grid connection delays, regulatory burdens and the high cost of low carbon fuels.
“The efficiency of logistics operators can often mean their work goes unseen, but the sector’s ability to thrive and continue powering the economy is by no means guaranteed. Yet with the right policy framework, sustained public and private investment and closer partnership between government and industry, logistics has the capacity to be a powerful catalyst for growth and resilience across the whole economy.”
View the report here: The Logistics Report 2026
