Top 25 UK and Irish Temperature-Controlled Logistics Providers 2016: Company ranking and market trends

This report, published in this form for the third time, ranks by turnover and fleet size the top 25 providers of temperature-controlled logistics services, that include transport, distribution and storage, in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The report also includes the assessments made by a selection of these companies of the challenges that they expect the industry to face in 2015. It also includes an overview of the food service and food wholesaler own-account sector. The report, sponsored by truck refrigeration system manufacturer, Thermo King, is prepared by Global Cold Chain News, the UK’s leading business-to-business website used by owners, directors and senior managers working for companies operating commercial vehicle fleets used for temperature-controlled transport. The report tables show financial performance by turnover for the past six years, (where latest data is available) the fleet size by vehicle number and type, as well as the storage capacity of each company. It has been a good year for most operators in the temperature controlled logistic sector, despite the many challenges, as our annual survey of the top 25 British and Irish logistics companies shows. The strength of investment in warehouses and trucks is also testimony to a sector in vigorous health. The acquisition of Norbert Dentressangle by XPO Logistics last year is also a sign, not only of continuing consolidation, but of market sentiment about this sector as profitable and good for investment. The Cold Chain News Top 25 listing for 2016 reveals that many temperature-controlled companies with large, established cold storage operations performed well last year. The growing shortage of cold storage space across the country is clearly a factor here. And there is little likelihood that cold store capacity will exceed demand within the next five years, which bodes well for those companies with modern warehousing.

Sally Nash is the Director of the Midlands Institute for Children Youth and Mission (MCYM) at St John's College Nottingham and a Curate in Hodge Hill in Birmingham.