Driving forward in a post-Brexit and COVID-19 world

The world saw a turbulent change when national lockdowns took place due to COVID-19. As businesses across the industries had to temporarily close, agility was key for them to survive but, alongside the pandemic, the UK has also gone through a transition of leaving the European Union - bringing its own challenges. Throughout all this adversity, as people and businesses, we’ve had to adapt to new ways of working.

Logistics UK coordinated a Performance Tracker, an assessment that was made on the haulage market to gauge a feel for the industry after more than 2 months post-Brexit. Here’s the rundown of what Logistics UK found:

- Fuel prices on the rise: prices are continuing to exert upward pressure on operating costs. However, this is mitigated by the fact that road congestion and delivery times are still positively impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

- Impact of Brexit: more than four out of ten respondents reported delays in receiving goods (43.1%) and additional paperwork (42.3%). Just over a quarter (26%) reported that their suppliers experienced delays in receiving parts.

- Importing and exporting challenges: one in three (32%) had not been able to export, mainly owing to reduced demand for products and services.

- High demand for HGV drivers and mechanics: HGV driver roles are becoming increasingly hard to fill with more than three out of four respondents (75.8%) reporting recruitment difficulties.

Although the price of fuel is on the rise and also the demand for drivers, running your transport operation efficiently has never been more important. Combat increasing fuel prices by never running empty or, if you have too much work to handle yourself, you can subcontract this work to a network of trusted hauliers.