As operators look ahead to 2026, the challenge is no longer a single dominant threat, such as fuel prices or driver shortages, but rather the way multiple everyday pressures land at the same time.
What matters now is not simply understanding what is going wrong, but identifying which of these pressures are unavoidable — and where operators still have room to act.
Non-fuel costs are now the main pressure point
Fuel may still dominate public debate, but industry data shows the most persistent squeeze is coming from elsewhere. The Road Haulage Association’s latest Annual Cost Movement Survey, published in autumn 2025, shows that operating costs excluding fuel rose by 5.91% year on year, while total operating costs increased by around 3.5%.
For a standard 44-tonne articulated vehicle, the RHA estimates annual operating costs of roughly £166,000 excluding fuel. These are baseline costs that apply regardless of utilisation levels, contract mix or route profile, leaving little room for error when rates fail to keep pace.
The RHA has warned that these increases are structural rather than temporary, driven by labour, insurance and maintenance costs that are unlikely to fall back in the near term.
Insurance, maintenance and downtime quietly erode margins
A closer look at the cost breakdown explains why many operators feel trapped. Insurance premiums, repairs and maintenance, tyres and overheads have all risen together, creating a layer of fixed costs that cannot easily be offset through operational efficiencies alone.
What has changed in recent years is the impact of downtime. Delays in spare-part availability and higher workshop labour costs mean breakdowns now take vehicles out of service for longer, while lease payments, finance costs and wages continue to accrue in the background. For fleets running on very tight margins, even short interruptions can have a disproportionate financial impact.
This is one area where discipline still matters. Operators with strong maintenance planning and early fault detection are better placed to limit unplanned downtime, even if they cannot escape higher unit costs.
Below-cost pricing is amplifying the pressure
Not all of the strain on margins comes from outside the industry. In commentary accompanying its cost survey, the RHA has issued a clear warning about below-cost pricing, particularly in parts of the intermediary market.
When work is priced below real operating cost, the impact ripples outward: rates are pushed down across the market, financially weaker operators are forced into risky behaviour, and insolvencies become more likely. In an environment where margins are already close to zero, the ability to walk away from unviable work has become a defining factor in long-term survival.
Road charges and tolls add up faster than expected
Alongside general cost inflation, operators are also dealing with higher road charges. Increases in HGV tolls at key crossings may appear modest in isolation, but they add another layer of fixed cost that has to be absorbed somewhere.
The RHA has warned that such charges ultimately feed through into higher prices across the supply chain, rather than being absorbed by hauliers themselves. For operators running regular trunk routes, the cumulative impact can be significant — particularly when combined with other infrastructure-related inefficiencies.
Crumbling roads are no longer just a nuisance
The condition of the UK’s road network has become a direct operational issue. The Asphalt Industry Alliance’s ALARM Survey 2025 estimates that clearing the maintenance backlog on local roads in England and Wales would cost almost £17bn, the highest figure recorded in the survey’s three-decade history.
With roads resurfaced on average only once every 93 years, the likelihood of pothole damage, suspension wear and unplanned maintenance continues to rise. For HGV operators, the consequences are magnified by high axle loads and mileage, turning poor road conditions into a direct threat to fleet availability and cost control.
Parking shortages and freight crime are increasingly intertwined
Infrastructure weaknesses extend beyond road surfaces. The UK remains short of around 11,000 secure HGV parking spaces, according to the RHA, forcing drivers to stop in unsecured locations.
This shortage is closely linked to the rise in freight crime. Industry reporting in 2025, citing NaVCIS data, shows UK freight theft losses rising to £111m in the most recent full year, with experts warning that the true cost is far higher once disruption, insurance premiums and reputational damage are taken into account.
Organised criminal groups are becoming more sophisticated, exploiting insecure parking and fragmented logistics chains, and in some cases impersonating legitimate operators. Freight crime is no longer an occasional loss to be written off — it has become a systemic risk that operators must actively manage.
Poor facilities are pushing drivers away
The lack of secure parking is also feeding directly into workforce problems. Research published by Trans.info in December 2025 found that 62% of drivers are dissatisfied with UK lorry park facilities, with safety concerns particularly acute at night.
The article reported that some drivers — including women — have left the profession altogether because they cannot find safe places to stop. In that sense, infrastructure failures are not just a cost issue, but a retention issue, compounding an already fragile labour market.
An ageing workforce remains a slow-burning risk
While the acute driver shortages of 2021 have eased, the underlying demographic challenge has not gone away. The average UK HGV driver is now around 51 years old, with more than half aged over 50. The RHA estimates that the industry will need around 40,000 new drivers each year to replace retirees and meet demand.
At the same time, training pipelines remain uncertain following changes to Skills Bootcamp funding, leaving operators more reliant on retention than recruitment.
Read more: Germany closes the loophole: every offence by foreign drivers will now be visible instantly
Clean Air Zones turn compliance into a daily cost
Environmental compliance continues to add steady pressure. Clean Air Zones in cities such as Birmingham and Sheffield impose £50-per-day charges on non-compliant HGVs, turning emissions standards into a routine operating cost for urban and regional fleets.
For operators still running older vehicles, CAZ charges are no longer exceptional penalties. They are part of everyday route economics and must be priced into contracts accordingly.
Zero-emission trucks: promise, but not a universal fix
Government support has improved the business case for zero-emission trucks. The plug-in van and truck grant, extended to at least 2027, offers up to £25,000 off the purchase price of large vehicles.
Even so, many operators remain cautious. Charging infrastructure, grid connections and uncertainty around residual values continue to limit large-scale adoption, particularly for SMEs. For now, electric HGVs make most sense on specific, well-defined duty cycles rather than as a universal replacement for diesel fleets.
Cyber risk quietly enters the equation
Another pressure that has moved into sharper focus is cyber disruption. The National Cyber Security Centre recorded 204 nationally significant cyber incidents in its latest reporting period, more than double the previous year.
As haulage operations become more digital, reliance on booking platforms, telematics and proof-of-delivery systems increases. For operators, cyber resilience is no longer a back-office concern but an operational one, with outages capable of halting work entirely.
The real challenge is prioritisation, not panic
UK haulage is not facing one single crisis. It is facing pressure by accumulation. Rising non-fuel costs, deteriorating roads, parking shortages, freight crime, demographic strain, environmental compliance and cyber risk are all landing on an industry with almost no financial buffer.
The operators most likely to make it through 2026 will not be those chasing every initiative, but those making clear-eyed decisions about what matters most — pricing realistically, protecting uptime, managing risk deliberately and focusing investment where it delivers genuine resilience.
In a sector running on margins of barely two per cent, knowing what you can still control is no longer a management preference. It is a survival strategy.
