Logistics & Manufacturing

The logistics labour market continues to tighten. Logistics UK reported the UK’s active HGV driver workforce fell to 293,714 at the beginning of 2025 (down 1.9% vs 2024), alongside concerns about ageing demographics and training gaps.

On the manufacturing side, industry continues to push for faster digitalisation and stronger skills support as competitiveness depends on access to talent and capability.

Geopolitical instability and route disruption are changing how goods move. Analysis of the Red Sea disruption shows ongoing rerouting and longer transit times, with carriers avoiding the Suez route.

For manufacturers and distributors, this creates a tougher planning environment: more variability, higher buffer requirements, and greater operational pressure at receiving and dispatch points.

Cargo crime is becoming more sophisticated and more “strategic” using deception, fraud, and technology to exploit process gaps. TT Club BSI’s 2024 cargo theft analysis (published 2025) highlights major trends: food and beverage as the most stolen commodity (22% of incidents), hijackings (21%), vehicle theft (20%), and a high proportion occurring in transit (41%) and at warehouses (21%).
This elevates the role of integrated security controls not just around the perimeter, but through vetting, handovers, access governance, and secure movement.

As sites digitise from warehouse systems to production and operational technology (OT) cyber resilience is now inseparable from operational resilience. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) continues to emphasise the scale and seriousness of the threat landscape in its Annual Review 2025.

For logistics and manufacturing, the future risk is not only data loss, but operational disruption making coordinated incident readiness and resilient processes critical.

Manufacturers report persistent cost and compliance pressure, including uncertainty over energy bills and rising employment costs with Make UK/PwC’s Executive Survey 2025 noting 92% expect additional employment‑cost pressures to affect the bottom line.

At the same time, industry focus is accelerating on decarbonisation and technology adoption to improve productivity and reduce overheads. This drives a future where sites must deliver more output with tighter controls, while meeting sustainability and governance expectations across the whole supply chain.