The United Kingdom cold chain logistics market is expected to grow by 3% during the forecast period 2020-2025. After the no-deal Brexit, the food and beverage industry of the United Kingdom is the most affected sector. Its dependence on European Union (EU) is a major risk as almost 30% of the food imports is form the EU including French wine, Italian Cheese and especially olives and spinach, of which the EU is UK’s sole supplier.

These regulatory changes along with the increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables, groceries and beverages in the retail sector are leading to a growth in the refrigerated storage and transportation market.

Key Market Trends

Brexit Pushing the Demand for Refrigerated Transportation

With the European Union being one of the major trade partners in the food and beverages sector, the United Kingdom, after the no-deal Brexit is facing extreme challenges in fulfilling the demands of the country’s population. The country, to attract other exporters, has lowered the tariffs on agricultural produce from outside of the Union.

Among the importers of the country’s meat, beef, fish and beverages, the European Union hold a major share. Creating a market outside the Union will also be a challenging task for the country.

Countries like Australia, Africa and Chile are potential trading partners for the country but are distant from the United Kingdom as compared to the EU, trading with which will require huge capacities and technologically advanced cold chain services.

Not only in the F&B sector but also the pharmaceutical industry will be facing challenges in terms of risk of drug shortages. Major drugmakers such as Bayer, Novartis, AstraZeneca and GSK have all taken contingency steps to secure their supply. Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, Europe’s largest diabetes drug companies, for instance, are stockpiling insulin in Britain, increasing the demand for advanced cold storage warehouses.

Increasing Demand of Refrigerated Logistics from the Retail Industry

The UK has the third-largest online grocery market in the world following South Korea and Japan with about 6% of the grocery sales made online. With the increasing population and shifting generation, the shopping preferences and habits of the consumers are changing. The trend of healthy living and online shopping is aiding the increase in the demand for refrigerated warehousing and transportation of perishable and sensitive products in the retail market. Multiple cold chain warehouses have been established to ensure ideal storage and transportation conditions for temperature-sensitive products.

Competitive Landscape

The United Kingdom cold chain logistics market is dominated by numerous international and local players including Maersk, Lineage Logistics and Kingspan Limited. The situation created post-Brexit is further expected to push the growth in the already growing market in terms of transportation and storage of the products.

Reasons to Purchase this report:

  • The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
  • 3 months of analyst support