Tentative signs the industry is beginning to recover after a difficult start to the year are reflected in insolvency figures, which showed a significant reduction in appointments of turnaround experts.
FRP cautioned that it was too early to call it a recovery, but that the figures suggested the financial pressures facing road freight operators were beginning to stabilise after months of sustained pressure.
Raj Mittal, restructuring advisory partner at FRP, said: “Our data shows 254 formal insolvency appointments amongst road freight transport businesses in the first seven months of 2026.
“Failures rose sharply in the early part of the year, reaching 53 appointments in April, before easing back to 32 in July.
“It is too early to call that a recovery, but it does suggest we may be moving towards a more settled market rather than seeing pressures accelerate further.”
Mittal said problems could be traced back to the exceptional demand experienced during and immediately after the pandemic, which forced operators to expand their fleet and warehousing capacity. When volumes normalised, businesses were left with high fixed costs and lower utilisation, which put pressure on margins.
“Higher fuel, employment, maintenance and financing costs have added to this strain, particularly for operators in the spot-market with limited ability to pass increases on to customers or quickly reduce capacity,” he said.
Figures supplied by Interpath also appeared to reflect a similar trend, with administrations reaching a high of 40 in the first three quarters of 2024 before falling to 31 in 2025 and just 27 this year.
Rick Harrison, restructuring MD at Interpath, said companies were still grappling with rising operating costs from fuel, vehicle maintenance, energy and wages: “At the same time, labour shortages, particularly among qualified drivers, remain a persistent challenge, while supply chain disruption caused by geopolitical crises and trade tariffs continue to create delays and uncertainty,” he said.
“Compounding these pressures is the growing gap between customer expectations and commercial realities.
“Consumers and businesses alike increasingly expect faster delivery times, including same-day and next-day services, alongside real-time tracking and greater transparency.
“Meeting these demands requires significant investment and can be costly to maintain, yet failing to do so risks losing business.
“As a result, many companies are walking a fine line between delivering the service levels customers expect and maintaining sustainable financial performance,” Harrison added.
As reported by Motor Transport last week, Logistics UK said there were “green shoots of recovery” in the confidence of logistics businesses after its business survey found outlook had improved from 5.8 out of 10 in Q1 to 6.5 during Q2.
It said companies were feeling more positive about their prospects and the economy as a whole.
