Key points:
- 78% of surveyed UK businesses expect demand to outpace their available capacity within two years.
- 72% expect demand to keep rising over the next two years.
- Only 1 in 10 are very confident they can build capacity fast enough to capture future growth.
- 58% plan to increase capital investment.
- The main barriers are skills shortages, infrastructure constraints, planning delays and IT limitations.
Demand is growing faster than capacity
The DHL Supply Chain UK Capacity Crunch Report is based on a survey carried out in June 2026 by Magnus Consulting. It covered 200 senior decision-makers, 50 in each of four UK growth sectors: advanced manufacturing, life sciences, energy and infrastructure, and data centres.
The results show a clear gap between expected demand and the ability to meet it:
- 78% expect demand to outpace their available capacity within two years,
- 72% expect demand to keep rising over the same period,
- only 1 in 10 are very confident they can build capacity fast enough,
- 58% plan to increase capital investment.
According to DHL, capacity is not only about physical space. It also includes people, infrastructure, technology and operational capability.
Different sectors, different bottlenecks
The main barriers to growth vary by sector:
- advanced manufacturing: 48% point to skills shortages, the highest share of any sector,
- energy and infrastructure: 34% point to planning and regulatory delays,
- data centres: 50% point to technology and IT infrastructure constraints,
- life sciences: 42% point to technology and 40% to skills shortages.
Many of these factors are outside companies’ direct control, including workforce availability, pressure on infrastructure and long project lead times.
What it means for logistics
Businesses are responding by investing in expansion, automation and technology. According to DHL, supply chains play a central role in managing growth. Greater visibility, flexible capacity and earlier operational insight can help companies react before bottlenecks appear.
“The evidence shows that businesses are investing and expanding to prepare for growth,” said Mark Patterson, Chief Customer Officer at DHL Supply Chain UK&I. However, he added that “no organisation can address structural constraints alone.”
For transport and logistics companies, the findings point to growing demand for flexible warehousing, transport and specialist services in these sectors. At the same time, logistics operators face many of the same constraints as their customers, including staff shortages and limited space.
Space and staff are already tight
The warehouse market shows the same pressure. As trans.info has reported, Britain is running short of new warehouses, with speculative building at its lowest level in almost ten years while demand stays strong.
Rising costs also make it harder to add capacity profitably. UK logistics groups Eddie Stobart and Great Bear, for example, both reported pre-tax losses for 2025, partly due to higher costs and underused warehouse space. For companies looking for extra capacity, our guide on how to vet warehouses may also be useful.
