Transportation firms are investing heavily in technology and resilience strategies to strengthen supply chains in an unpredictable operating environment. Yet disruption remains widespread, with losses continuing to expose an insurance protection gap.
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Key insights

  • 63% of transportation leaders expect supply chain conditions to improve over the next five years despite ongoing geopolitical and trade uncertainty.
  • Investment in technology and proactive risk management is helping firms strengthen resilience and respond more quickly to disruption.
  • 90% of transportation firms say they have robust frameworks in place to manage supply chain risks, reflecting strong confidence in existing resilience efforts.
  • Resilience strategies such as nearshoring, supplier diversification and stockpiling are becoming more common, but they can also introduce new operational and insurance exposures.
  • 81% of transportation organisations experienced a supply chain loss in 2025, with many remaining underinsured against the resulting financial impact.
Aerial view over containers ship loading and unloading in sea port.Cargo ship import and export logistics business by container ship.Container loading cargo ship. Containers transportation.

Supply chains are entering a new era of complexity. Geopolitical tensions, trade uncertainty, rising costs and shifting global trade routes are forcing transportation firms to rethink how they move goods, manage risk and maintain continuity. In the UK, these challenges are compounded by evolving customs requirements, regulatory pressures and ongoing border friction, while labour shortages and infrastructure constraints continue to test operational resilience.

Transportation remains one of the most proactive sectors in supply chain resilience. Gallagher's Redrawing Global Supply Chains survey, which includes responses from 331 transportation leaders globally, highlights an industry investing in technology, visibility and risk management to improve preparedness. However, disruptions continue to cause losses and reveal significant protection gaps across the sector.

A sector on the move

Transportation leaders are looking to the future with confidence. Gallagher's research found that 63% expect supply chain conditions to improve over the next five years, while 90% say they have robust frameworks in place to manage supply chain risk. Together, these findings suggest the sector believes its investments in technology, visibility and risk management will build resilience over time.

"Transportation firms have continued to invest heavily in technology and infrastructure to make their operations more efficient and resilient," says Mark Bunbury, managing director of Transportation at Gallagher. "Since the pandemic, we have seen significant investment across the sector, and that is helping organisations build confidence in their ability to manage future challenges."

The positive outlook is particularly notable given the backdrop facing UK operators. The 2025 BDO UK logistics confidence index found that 68% of logistics operators reported more challenging trading conditions than a year ago. Despite this, transportation leaders are starting to see tangible returns from investments in technology, infrastructure and risk management, offering some green shoots.

Among transportation firms, 72% have adopted proactive or hybrid protection strategies, reflecting a growing focus on anticipating disruption rather than reacting to it. This approach is increasingly supported by technology: 51% use real-time supply chain monitoring platforms, 46% utilise risk forecasting and scenario planning and 37% deploy GPS-enabled tracking to strengthen visibility across their supply chains.

Importantly, the value of these investments extends beyond supply chain resilience. Across vehicle fleets, telematics, GPS tracking and in-cab CCTV are helping operators manage fuel costs, reduce unnecessary idling, improve route efficiency and strengthen claims management, generating benefits that support both operational performance and risk management.

Source: Redrawing Global Supply Chains Survey, Gallagher

Interconnected risks that resist control

Transportation firms are navigating a combination of economic, geopolitical and operational pressures rather than a single dominant threat. Rising material costs affect 47% of firms, while tariffs and trade disputes impact 44%. Geopolitical instability and cargo theft each affect 41%, illustrating how multiple risks are converging across increasingly interconnected supply chains. Rising fuel costs are adding further pressure to operating margins, reinforcing the need for greater efficiency across transportation networks.

Source: Redrawing Global Supply Chains Survey, Gallagher

Investment in visibility is delivering benefits, but significant blind spots remain. While 50% of transportation firms report full oversight of their direct suppliers, that figure falls to 39% for second- and third-tier suppliers. As supply chains become more interconnected, these gaps can make disruptions harder to identify and address before they escalate.

Many of these risks remain difficult to manage as they sit beyond an organisation's direct control. More than half (53%) of transportation leaders agree that supply chain complexity makes it difficult to identify weaknesses and anticipate future disruptions. A single geopolitical event can trigger route changes, increase freight costs, create supplier delays and introduce additional insurance considerations, in many cases, with little warning.

Source: Redrawing Global Supply Chains Survey, Gallagher

"The focus for many transportation businesses has shifted towards managing immediate operational pressures and responding to rapidly changing global conditions," says Adrian Scott, director of Transportation at Gallagher. "As trade routes adapt and geopolitical events reshape supply chains, organisations are making decisions much faster while navigating risks that remain outside their control."

UK-specific pressures

For UK transportation firms, these pressures are compounded by a range of local operating challenges. Brexit-related border processes continue to add complexity to cross-border movements, while regulatory divergence has increased compliance requirements for many operators.

At the same time, the UK's reliance on maritime trade leaves businesses exposed to disruptions impacting global shipping routes. According to the Department for Transport, around 85% of the UK's international freight by weight moves by sea, making events such as the Red Sea crisis particularly significant1. The rerouting of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope added weeks to some UK-bound shipments and increased freight costs across supply chains.

Emerging workforce and infrastructure constraints

Looking ahead, cyber threats, workforce challenges and infrastructure constraints are expected to become more prominent. For UK businesses, that outlook is reflected in a projected shortfall of between 409,000 and 618,000 transport workers by 20302. Demographic trends are adding further pressure, with 47% of HGV drivers aged 50 or older and only 1% aged 25 or younger, raising concerns about replacing experienced workers as demand continues to grow3.

Infrastructure bottlenecks across ports, roads and rail networks are also expected to remain a significant constraint on supply chain performance. Unlike some disruption-related risks, these challenges represent long-term structural pressures which require planning and sustained investment to address.

Compounding these challenges is the prospect of industrial action. Disputes over pay and working conditions have driven strikes at several UK ports over the last two years, disrupting logistics operations.

The limits of resilience

Transportation firms are investing heavily to strengthen supply chain resilience. Gallagher's research shows that structural supply chain changes, including nearshoring, onshoring and friend-shoring, are the most widely adopted resilience measures, used by 73% of transportation organisations. Technology and visibility initiatives follow at 70%, while 68% are strengthening resilience through insurance and risk transfer solutions.

Source: Redrawing Global Supply Chains Survey, Gallagher

Inventory planning has emerged as another important response to ongoing disruption. Amid tariff and trade uncertainty, almost nine in ten (91%) transportation firms have either already stockpiled inventory or are considering doing so. Alongside supplier diversification and alternative routing strategies, stockpiling is helping businesses adjust to global supply chain volatility.

Source: Redrawing Global Supply Chains Survey, Gallagher

Inventory and localisation strategies

The same trends are evident in the UK. Survey findings show that 68% of organisations are investing in technology and visibility tools, 66% are strengthening supplier partnerships and 64% are diversifying their supplier base. Nearshoring is also gaining momentum.

Together, these initiatives are improving flexibility and helping organisations spread risk across a broader network of suppliers and locations.

Source: Redrawing Global Supply Chains Survey, Gallagher

"Businesses are focusing on the areas they can influence directly. Technologies such as digital tracking improve visibility, while better inventory planning helps maintain continuity during disruptions. These strategies do not remove every source of uncertainty, but they can make organisations more responsive and help build confidence with customers," says Mark Bunbury.

The benefits are clear, but so are the limitations. More than a quarter of transportation leaders say their current mitigation measures are not very effective against tariff and trade uncertainty (27%), while 26% report similar challenges in managing geopolitical risks. These findings highlight a fundamental reality: businesses can strengthen preparedness, but they have less influence over the external forces driving many supply chain disruptions.

As a result, resilience is increasingly being measured by responsiveness rather than resistance. Organisations may not be able to eliminate geopolitical volatility or shifting trade policies, but they are investing in ways to absorb shocks, adapt more quickly and maintain continuity when disruption occurs.
However, efforts to improve resilience can also bring new challenges.

When resilience strategies create unintended consequences

Strategies such as stockpiling inventory, rerouting shipments and diversifying supplier networks while improving continuity can alter a business's risk profile in ways that are not always immediately apparent.

With stockpiling, holding larger inventory volumes can help protect against disruption, but it also concentrates value in fewer locations. Goods that would normally move through the supply chain may instead remain in storage for longer periods, increasing the potential for theft, damage and other property-related losses.

Rerouting presents a different challenge. Alternative trade corridors may help firms avoid disruption, but they can also introduce unfamiliar locations, carriers and transit points into the supply chain. As goods move through new routes, a business's risk profile may evolve faster than its insurance programme. Exposures that were previously covered may become uninsured or underinsured if coverage is not reviewed alongside operational changes.

Resilience often involves trade-offs. More than half (53%) of transportation leaders say improvements in one part of their supply chain have created unintended consequences elsewhere and insurance limitations associated with new risk areas. However, that still leaves more than a third of transportation firms facing these challenges without full confidence in their preparedness.

Source: Redrawing Global Supply Chains Survey, Gallagher

The issue is particularly relevant for UK organisations that are increasing inventory levels or expanding warehousing capacity to strengthen supply chain continuity. Additional storage can improve resilience, but it also increases the concentration of goods and, as such, can amplify the financial impact of a loss event. As resilience strategies evolve, businesses need to ensure their understanding of risk evolves alongside them.

Different strategies require risk and insurance considerations

The challenge becomes even more complex when considering the diversity of the transportation sector itself. A warehouse operator storing goods faces a very different risk profile from a freight forwarder moving cargo across multiple jurisdictions or an asset-based carrier managing vehicles and drivers on public roads. Each model carries distinct exposures and requires a tailored approach to risk management and insurance.

"The key is to ensure that coverage reflects how the business operates," notes Adrian Scott. "Organisations that add warehouses, increase inventory levels or reroute shipments may significantly change their exposure without making corresponding adjustments to their insurance arrangements. Resilience strategies work best when operational decisions and risk-transfer decisions evolve together."

Businesses must ensure that as their supply chains evolve, so too do their insurance, risk management and operational decisions. Otherwise, strategies designed to build resilience can unintentionally turn into protection gaps in the event of losses.

The protection gap and creative solutions

Despite investments in resilience and risk management, a substantial protection gap remains across the transportation sector. Over the past 12 months, over four in five (81%) transportation firms experienced supply chain losses. Among organisations that experienced moderate-to-severe losses, only 29% were fully insured. The remaining 71% were either partially covered or lacked adequate protection.

Source: Redrawing Global Supply Chains Survey, Gallagher

Notably, 13% reported having insurance in place that failed to respond when needed. Together, the findings suggest that more needs to be done to find solutions for the supply chain protection gap. These pressures are particularly evident in the UK. Over one-third (37%) of transportation firms cite high premiums as a key challenge, while 34% report limited coverage for supply chain-specific risks and 33% point to gaps in protection against emerging threats such as cyber, climate and geopolitical disruption.

Why coverage gaps persist: A market under strain

Evolving supply chain strategies are creating exposures that many traditional insurance programmes were never designed to address. As a result, transportation firms are embracing more sophisticated risk transfer solutions, including captive and parametric structures.

As a result, organisations are paying more for protection while finding it harder to secure the capacity and coverage they require. The challenge extends beyond simply obtaining insurance; it is about ensuring that protection remains aligned with current operational realities and emerging sources of risk.

What the sector needs from insurance partners

The conversation around insurance is evolving. As supply chains become more complex and interconnected, transportation firms are placing greater value on guidance, insight and risk intelligence alongside traditional coverage. According to Gallagher's survey, 34% of transportation firms want greater support with scenario planning and stress testing, while 33% seek more tailored assessments aligned to their specific supply chain exposures.

The need extends beyond policy placement. As organisations expand warehousing capacity, diversify suppliers or enter new trade corridors, they gain a clearer understanding of how those decisions impact their risk profile and insurance requirements.

These findings signal a broader shift in expectations — businesses are seeking support to help them anticipate challenges before losses occur, rather than simply respond after an event.

"The most effective relationships are the ones where insurance and risk conversations happen alongside business decisions," explains Adrian Scott. "As operations evolve, organisations need partners who can help them understand how these changes affect their exposure profile, not just review policies at renewal."

Alongside calls for better data and analytics, 28% of businesses are seeking clearer guidance on regulatory, trade and sanctions compliance across multiple jurisdictions. As supply chains span multiple markets and regulatory frameworks, understanding compliance obligations is becoming more and more important.

These broader expectations are reshaping the role of insurance brokers as key risk advisors. Transportation firms are increasingly looking beyond capacity and coverage towards expertise that supports decision-making.

Whether assessing the implications of a new trade route, evaluating supplier risks or preparing for potential disruption, businesses are placing greater value on partners who can provide insight, challenge assumptions and help navigate uncertainty. In an environment where supply chains are constantly evolving, informed decision-making is becoming a competitive advantage.

The challenge for transportation firms moving forward — it is understanding the impact of changing supply chain strategies on exposure, resilience and coverage. This calls for a combination of sector expertise, risk insight and insurance solutions that evolve alongside the business's exposure, and the broker is an increasingly important partner in this process.

How Gallagher can help

  • Map the exposures created by resilience strategies: Stockpiling, supplier diversification, nearshoring and new trade corridors can all change an organisation's risk profile. Understanding how these decisions alter exposure is the first step toward avoiding protection gaps.
  • Design coverage that reflects current operations: As supply chains become more complex, insurance programmes need to evolve alongside business requirements. The objective is to ensure protection reflects current operating realities rather than the conditions that existed when policies were originally arranged.
  • Support evolving risk transfer needs: Traditional insurance, captives and alternative risk transfer solutions can all play a role in managing supply chain exposures. The most effective approach depends on an organisation's operational complexity, risk appetite and long-term objectives.
  • Combine sector expertise with local market insight: For UK transportation firms operating across multiple jurisdictions, access to specialist transportation knowledge, regulatory insight and trade expertise can help navigate an increasingly complex operating and risk environment.

"Many organisations already have the right tools available to them," notes Mark Bunbury. "The real challenge is ensuring those tools are implemented effectively, measured appropriately and continue to evolve alongside the business and its changing risk profile."

With supply chain disruptions becoming more frequent and complex, resilience needs more than just visibility, technology and operational flexibility. Businesses need to have confidence that their insurance programmes and risk management frameworks are keeping up with the realities of today's world.

Sources

1"Supply Chain Disruption: How Prepared Is the UK for the Next Trade Shock," Manufacturing & Logistics IT, 13 Apr 2026.

2Cook, Peter. "From 2025 Lessons to 2026 Demands: What's Next for UK Ports, Transport, Logistics and Infrastructure Operators?" Mastek, 18 Dec 2025.

3Green, Jeremy Swinfen. "The Supply Chain Skills Paradox," Business Reporter, accessed 14 Jul 2026.

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