Boost for freight as government unveils major new plan to bolster supply chain.
Campaign launched to kickstart careers in logistics and create a more environmentally friendly and resilient haulage sector.
The plan
Millions of people across the UK will be encouraged to kickstart a rewarding career in logistics. With the government unveiling a multimillion-pound new plan to bolster the supply chain and create a more resilient and greener haulage sector.
A major campaign is being launched today (15 June 2022) to recruit and retain a skilled workforce in the logistics sector. This builds on the government’s unprecedented action during the pandemic.
The Generation Logistics campaign, led by Logistics UK, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK. Backed by £345,000 government funding. Which includes an online hub full of resources, learning materials and job openings to make it easier for people to kickstart their career in the industry. As well as TV and radio adverts which will help to attract candidates.
This follows the government’s 33 actions taken to tackle the heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver shortage and protect the supply chain. This included increasing the number of driving test slots. Investing in new roadside facilities and introducing bootcamps. Which has seen the number of available HGV drivers stabilise.
The strategy launched today includes £7 million investment to boost the uptake of innovative new technology, helping decarbonise and digitalise the sector. Funding could go towards initiatives like trialling hydrogen cranes to support decarbonisation.
How todays investment will support businesses
These technologies will support a more cost-efficient, reliable, resilient and sustainable freight sector. Today’s investment will support wider economic growth by ensuring businesses can operate efficiently, getting the goods they need on time and at a reasonable cost while safeguarding their jobs. This will all help in the plan to bolster supply chains.
The pandemic shone a spotlight on the importance of our country’s freight sector. As a proud, free-trading nation, moving goods at home and abroad has always been the backbone of Britain’s economy.
Our 33 interventions to tackle the shortage of drivers means we now have a stable recruitment pipeline and a robust supply chain, and today’s measures will help the sector grow from strength to strength.
We are committed to working closely with the industry to attract a strong pipeline of talent, decarbonise the freight network and deliver a world-class haulage sector.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps
Tackling HGV driver shortages
The government’s unprecedented action to help the sector tackle the global shortage of drivers has included making 11,000 HGV driver training places available through Skills Bootcamps, injecting a major and sustained boost to the number of HGV driver tests available, and investing £52.5 million in improvements in roadside facilities and lorry parking.
Since then the sector has started to recover and industry bodies are reporting positively on the number of HGV drivers stabilising. They indicate that the initiatives introduced by government and industry have started to yield results, showing that perceptions of the industry are changing as a result of government support and more people are looking to train and qualify as HGV drivers.
New HGV drivers are taking and passing their driving test in record numbers. Between March 2022 and May 2022, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) carried out 29,384 HGV tests – 54% more than the corresponding period in 2019 before the pandemic.
Today’s Future of Freight plan explains how a National Freight Network will be explored to help remove any existing barriers faced by the sector that prevent it from delivering a seamless flow of goods across the country.
A call for evidence will also be launched to better understand how the sector can more easily approach planning applications, so there are fewer obstacles to creating bigger warehouses to meet customer demand, introducing more HGV parking or improving driver facilities.
Decarbonising the sector
In a further bid to decarbonise the sector, a Freight Energy Forum led by both government and industry will be set up to help create a clear path to net zero and to assess the freight sector’s future energy and fuel needs.
The logistics industry contributes £127 billion to the UK economy and offers career opportunities that are varied and rewarding, so we’re pleased to see this reflected in the government’s Future of Freight strategy and the Generation Logistics campaign.
As we look to the future, bringing new talent into the workforce will be essential to help the UK achieve its ambitions in the sector, whether that’s building a robust and resilient supply chain or the path to net zero.
As a global business, DHL Supply Chain is making significant investments to support both recruitment and retention across the workforce and the development of clean technologies. We look forward to working alongside the government on this and other initiatives.
Saul Resnick, CEO DHL Supply Chain UK and Ireland
With 1.6 billion tonnes worth of goods transported in and around Britain each year and more than 2 million workers currently employed by the wider logistics sector, the government recognises the freight industry’s vital contribution to the country’s economy and continues to take unprecedented action to support this crucial sector.
Source: Gov.UK
Published: 15th June 2022