Transport and logistics is a growing sector that plays a major role in the UK and global economy. Although affected by the economic downturn in 2008/09, the sector is still in a good position. There has been a reduction in customer spending power, but there has been a surge in public transport usage and a greater demand for effective and integrated transport/freight solutions.
Logistics enables efficient management of the supply chain by ensuring that goods or services are available where and when they are needed in good condition and at competitive prices.
Transport management aims to provide quality and cost-effective services to get passengers and freight from A to B. The industry uses air, sea or surface transport. The latter can be further divided into road, rail and pedestrian.
Currently, there is significant investment into the transport infrastructure in the UK leading into the 2012 Olympics. Projects include tram and light rail schemes, integrated public transport hubs, cycle routes and much more.
Because of the size and diversity of the sector there are numerous and varied opportunities for graduates.
Some of the larger graduate training schemes across the sector allow you to sample working in different departments to get an overview of the company and the key skills required in different roles.
Transport and logistics exemplify the 24/7 culture. Some, but by no means all, roles require shift work including evenings, nights and weekends. In addition, depending on the role, travel may be a regular feature both locally, nationally and even internationally.
Environmental issues, sustainability, IT, further economic downturn (or upturn), fuel costs or a decrease in the world supply of fuel, changes in the sourcing of overseas products, social inclusion, global tourism trends, legislation and funding all currently affect the industry and will continue to have an impact in the future.
Graduate initial salaries can range from £15,000 to £18,000 and could have doubled within five years if progressing to managerial level (The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) UK, 2010).
The UK logistics industry is worth £74.45billion to the UK economy and employs around 2.3 million people in over 196,000 companies (Skills for Logistics, 2010). One in twelve working people in the UK works in logistics. Freight logistics companies either manage their own distribution system (own account operators), or manage it on behalf of another as ‘third-party logistics’ (3PL) or ‘hauliers’. Over 60% of UK freight is carried as 3PL.
The UK passenger transport industry is huge and comprises a small number of large employers together with many SMEs, sole traders and self-employed operators. There are approximately 126,000 people working in aviation, 159,000 in rail and 10,000 in transport planning. For further information on the amount of people working in this sector.
There are opportunities to work all over the UK in most divisions of transport and logistics with increasing opportunities to work globally.