News / High casualty rate among UK haulage firms on a challenging road

Opportunities for new road haulage firms in the UK appear to be diminishing, just over three years after one of the biggest rushes the sector has witnessed.

Analysing data from Companies House on haulage UK firms incorporated between 2019 and 2023, Breakwells Transport discovered that almost half (49%) of the new road freight companies had ceased trading.

Director Julie Breakwell said: “Our research indicates significant challenges for the road freight industry.

“Costs, fierce competition and fluctuating fuel prices can make it particularly challenging for new firms to stay afloat and make it past the five-year mark. For aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s important to carry out market analysis.”

Over the five years covered by the report, more than 103,000 haulage-related businesses had been incorporated, with 50,779  having since closed.

Breaking these down into hauliers and related handling firms and warehousing and storage facilities, it noted that haulage firms suffered the biggest casualties, down close to 47,000. Of the handling firms, 54% of the new ventures closed, while warehousing operations saw a 42.5% closure rate.

The rates reflect an image of the sector seen by The Loadstar over the past 18 months, as many drivers – particularly those operating in the container freight sector – have shifted to handling different commodities.

One owner-operator said this week they had “ditched” containerised freight and were instead focusing on parcel work.

And it marks a stark turnaround from July to September 2021, when new haulage firms were sprouting up and looking to headhunt drivers from competitors by any means necessary.

Operators told The Loadstar at the time“: Agencies are pushing rates up, making us pay more in the short-term, but they’re not expanding the pool, simply moving drivers around.

“They’re using tactics such as having scantily clad women parade around near port entrances offering [jobs at] £900 a week – but long-term it’s making us rethink.”

That surge in demand for drivers was precipitated by the introduction of new EU trading relations and the continuing pandemic, which left many European drivers wary of serving the UK, having concerns about delays brought on by virus contagion or by being stuck at busy border crossings – all of which compounded a long-running driver shortage.

Indeed, looking at the numbers provided by Breakwells, of the 103,000 new firms formed in that five-year period, more than a third (34,945) launched in 2020 and 2021.

The interim period has seen a calming of the situation, with flows between Europe having markedly improved, to the point where while some 7% of European driver jobs remain unfilled, while the UK has seen this number dramatically reduced, to 1%.