This industry is known as the ‘logistics’ industry – it manages the flow of goods and other resources, including mail and people, from one place to another.

If you like organising and planning, and want to work in a job that is necessary to the daily needs of customers and keeping business moving, then transport and distribution may be the right career for you.

The transport and storage industry is vital to the UK economy, running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days in the year. It employs nearly 1.8 million people.

What areas can I work in?

You can work in one of five areas.

• Distribution handles goods in storage before they are sent out, while they are being moved and after they arrive.
• Air transport includes jobs in the air but also on the ground.
• Train companies run passenger and goods services all over the UK and through the Channel Tunnel to Europe.
• Road transport carries passengers and goods.
• Sea transport includes ferries, cruise liners and Merchant Navy vessels.

What kind of companies can I work for?

There are a wide variety of companies to choose from including:

• airline companies and airports
• warehousing and distribution centres
• the Merchant Navy
• passenger cruise and ferry companies
• train, bus and taxi firms
• freight forwarding and logistics companies.

What’s the job market like?

The UK passenger transport and travel industry accounts for 735,000 jobs. The UK rail industry employs more than 190,000 people, while there are some 1,245 bus companies operating in England, Scotland and Wales.

However, there is a shortage of drivers nationwide. Generally the UK travel industry is always going to need staff, with recent estimates that 100,000 people are needed every year, for the next few years. In particular, lorry driver shortages have been highlighted, with around 52,000 vacancies in the UK.

Employment in the UK logistics industry will increase by 6% (155,000) by 2022. Freight forwarding companies employ 138,200 people across some 5,600 workplaces in the UK, accounting for 8% of the logistics UK total.

Reduced numbers of seafarers in the UK in recent years has meant that the Merchant Navy has a continuing demand for officers and cadets. This has stabilised between 2016 and 2017, with a slight increase of ratings by 3%. In 2017 there were an estimated 23,760 seafarers, over half of those officers. Currently there are 1,830 officer cadets in training.

Facts and figures

• As at December 2017, there were 125,000 people working in the transport and storage industry in Scotland (4.5% of the Scottish workforce), a decrease of 6,000 since December 2016.
• 1 in 12 of all jobs in the UK is in logistics.
• 22% of all women employed in the UK work in transport and storage.
• The UK handles over 500 million tonnes of freight through its commercial ports.
• The majority of seafarers active in the UK are male.
• The UK still has the third largest aviation network in the world, after the USA and China. It supports around 200,000 jobs and contributes £10.9 billion to the economy.

Want to find out more?

The People1st-run website, Careers that Move, provides information and case studies on working in the transport and travel industries.

Sources

• Airlines UK
• Careers that Move
• Understanding Skills and Performance Challenges in the Logistics Sector, Evidence Report – UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) (October 2014)
• Employment by industry, Office for National Statistics (March 2018)
• Women and the Economy, House of Commons Library (March 2018)
• Logistic operators will struggle to keep UK trading after Brexit, Whitehall revealed (28 March 2018) – The Loadstar
• The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport website
• Seafarers in the UK Shipping Industry: 2017 – Department for Transport Statistical Release (30 May 2018)