United Kingdom Material Handling Market - Forecasts from 2023 to 2028

The United Kingdom's material handling market was valued at US$6.515 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.65% over the forecast period to reach a market size of US$8.373 billion by 2028.

The demand for efficient processing of goods and products drives the material handling market in the United Kingdom. Material handling ensures proper management of goods by making products simple to locate, move, and ship, as well as by cutting costs by shortening the time it takes to move them, and by transporting them properly, products can be moved more quickly and with fewer damages. Almost all manufactured items and commodities in the United Kingdom are delivered by material handling machinery at some point along their route from the factory to the end consumer. Thus, material handling is extremely important in the country.

Efforts were taken by key organizations to ensure the safety and security of people working in the market have propelled the growth of the United Kingdom's material handling market.

In January 2021, The UK Material Handling Association (UKMHA) was founded to represent all the different material handling industries’ interests and to provide them with a single, authoritative voice. The UKMHA was created by merging two most respected material-handling trade associations, namely, the British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) and the Forklift Truck Association (FLTA), as well as their co-owned subsidiary, Consolidated Fork Truck Services (CFTS). The UKMHA introduced its new Safe Working Area charter in January 2023. The charter serves as a guide to ensure the safety of engineers performing forklift maintenance work on a customer's property. The UKMHA Safe Working Group and its members, who service and repair material handling and plant equipment on-site for their clients, collaborated to create the Safe Working Area Charter. The charter mandates that every engineer must have access to a secure place where they can operate and describes the conditions that must be met in these areas.

Recent Development

• In December 2021, the British company, Lotus Cars Ltd launched automated guided vehicles and robots, among other cutting-edge automation technologies, like assembly lines, to enhance flexibility and productivity. It combined manufacturing aluminum chassis and steel sub-assemblies into an individual facility to mitigate production downtime and enhance operational efficiency.

By application, the warehousing industry in the UK has seen major growth in recent times, which is further expected to drive demand in the market.

The boom in warehousing sites is thus expected to drive major growth, for example, Maersk announced its plans to expand its warehousing capacity in the UK and Ireland in September 2022 and acquired a newly constructed warehouse in Doncaster, in the North of England. The warehouse is one of the biggest in the UK, with a total area of more than 600,000 square feet, 60 dock levelers, a 20-meter internal clear height, several hundred parking spots, and offices.

Devices like forklifts, trolleys, containers, belts, transportation machines, stockers, and picking systems, as well as solutions for automated warehouses, are very popular in the warehouse segment of the material handling industry. As a result, many major companies have expanded the variety and versions of their products, particularly the trolleys, forklifts, and conveyors that may be utilized in warehouses for material handling. According to the data from the Office for National Statistics, the number of business sites in the UK classified as transport and storage was about 88% higher in 2021 than it was in 2011 and about 21% higher as compared to 2019. Further, orders for building warehouses were worth GBP 5.6 billion in 2021, thus registering for an all-time high. This boom in warehousing sites is thus expected to drive major growth in the market due to the increased demand for these products at these sites.

By industry vertical, the manufacturing industry is expected to hold a significant market share of the United Kingdom material handling market.

The industry vertical of the United Kingdom material handling market is segmented as manufacturing, healthcare, chemicals, paper, food & beverages, and others. The United Kingdom is a leading trader of industrial machinery. Exporting Industrial machinery accounted for US$73.129 billion and importing value accounted for US84.159 billion in 2019, according to UN Comtrade. Further, the gradual shift towards Electric vehicles is anticipated to increase manufacturing in the country. According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicles Manufacturers, in 2021, automotive production in the UK stood at 932,488 units which is about 1.16% of the total vehicles produced globally. In 2020, it accounted for 987,044 units, making it 1.27% of global automotive production.

Market Segmentation:

By Products

• Automated Guided Vehicles
• Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems
• Trucks and Lifts
• Cranes
• Conveyor Systems
• Others

By Applications

• Warehousing and Distribution
• Airport Baggage Handling
• Bulk Handling
• Postal and Parcel Delivery
• Assembly
• Packaging

By Industry Vertical

• Manufacturing
• Healthcare
• Chemical
• Paper
• Food and Beverage
• Others

By States

• England
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland