UK Freight Forwarding and Transport Support Insolvency Statistics

There were 45 insolvencies among SIC 522 transport-support companies between January and June 2026, two fewer than the 47 in the same six months of 2025, a fall of 4.3%. Transportation and storage as a whole fell much faster, from 383 to 335, down 12.5%.

So this category is improving, just more slowly than the section around it. That relative gap matters more than the two-case fall on its own: SIC 522 accounted for 13.4% of transportation and storage insolvencies in the first half of 2026, up from 12.3% a year earlier.

A 4.3% fall built on two cases is too small to call a recovery. These are Company Debt calculations from Insolvency Service Table A1b data.

The rolling 12-month total rose by nine cases, from 94 to 103, even though the year-to-date figure fell by two. The difference comes entirely from the six months that entered the rolling window and the six that dropped out of it.

July to December 2025 recorded 58 insolvencies, against 47 in the same half of 2024. That 11-case rise more than offsets the two-case fall in the first half of 2026.

So the higher rolling total does not show a fresh rise running through 2026. It shows that the second half of 2025 was busier, and the trailing annual total had not yet worked that period back out by June 2026.

Transportation and storage is not moving as one. Road haulage, the biggest trade in the section, fell 16.4% year to date; warehousing fell 15.0% and postal and courier activities 39.1%, the sharpest move of all. Other passenger land transport went the other way, up 26.5%.

Against that, SIC 522’s 4.3% fall is shallow. That is why its share of the section rose even as its own case count edged down: it is falling, but more slowly than most of the trades around it.

The section total conceals several different paths, so a single figure for transportation and storage tells you little about any one trade inside it.

SIC 522 insolvencies climbed from 40 in 2016 to 68 in 2019, but not smoothly: the annual total reached 75 in 2018 before easing the following year, a reminder that in a smaller category the yearly figure moves less evenly than in larger sectors.

They held close to that level through 2020 and 2021, at 71 and 72. Pandemic support, creditor restrictions and court disruption make those two years an awkward benchmark, even though this series did not show the sharp drop seen in some industries.

The total then rose to 92 in 2022 and peaked at 122 in 2023, before easing to 111 in 2024 and 105 in 2025. That leaves 2025 down 13.9% from the peak but still 54.4% above 2019. The first half of 2026, flat year to date, does not yet establish a fresh annual rise.

When we are asked to look at a freight forwarder in difficulty, we do not start with booking volumes. A forwarder can look busy while its working capital quietly weakens. What we check first is gross profit per consignment, carrier or duty payments made but not yet recovered, slow customer receipts, and exposure to demurrage, detention and storage charges.

Customer concentration is usually where the risk sits. One late-paying shipper can leave a forwarder funding several movements at once, and a disputed customs entry or delayed shipment can create costs that cannot be passed on quickly.

So the figures we watch, and the ones a director should watch, are aged receivables, gross profit by customer and route, unbilled disbursements, contingent shipment liabilities, HMRC arrears, and how much cash is committed before customers pay. Turnover on its own is a weak measure of whether the business is viable.

Creditors’ voluntary liquidations did the bulk of the work: 33 of the 45 cases in the first half of 2026, the same number as a year earlier. The two-case fall in the total came from compulsory liquidations, down from 10 to 8, with small movements in administrations and CVAs.

These are low counts, so the split should not be over-read. But the pattern is the ordinary one for a smaller trade under steady pressure: most companies reach insolvency through a creditors’ voluntary liquidation rather than being wound up by a creditor or rescued through administration. Source: Insolvency Service, Tables A2 to A6.

SIC group 522 covers support activities for transportation: freight forwarding, customs agency work, cargo handling, and support for road, rail, water and air transport such as ports, airport ground services and rail terminals. It is broader than freight forwarding, and the group-level table cannot isolate freight forwarders specifically.

Road haulage and removals (SIC 494), warehousing and storage (SIC 521), and postal and courier activities are recorded separately within the same section.

The annual insolvency count is comparatively small, so a handful of cases can move a monthly or year-to-date percentage sharply. The annual and rolling 12-month totals are the steadier guide. This is a count of recorded insolvencies, not a measure of how many companies operate in the category.

These are company counts, not shipments, clients or staff affected. One insolvent company may be a one-person customs agent or a multi-site logistics operator.

The figures are insolvency volumes, not a failure rate. They are not divided by the number of active SIC 522 businesses, so they cannot show whether failure has become more or less likely for a given operator.

The SIC 522 figures come from Table A1b and are not seasonally adjusted. The latest month is provisional and can be revised.

None of these figures decide whether a particular business can be rescued. For a freight forwarder the live questions are narrower: what demurrage or liability sits on current shipments, how concentrated the customer base is, and what is genuinely owed to HMRC. Other transport-support businesses may need to weigh asset commitments, contract liabilities and overdue tax instead.

Plenty of companies in difficulty are operationally sound but carrying a one-off liability shock or a customer payment delay, and both are usually fixable if they are addressed early.

If the company cannot pay HMRC, staff, carriers, landlords or other creditors as debts fall due, early advice leaves more room to move: renegotiated terms, an HMRC Time to Pay arrangement, or a rescue procedure such as a Company Voluntary Arrangement or administration.

Once a creditor begins formal winding-up action, banks and other creditors may start to restrict the company’s options, and a creditors’ voluntary liquidation can become the more realistic route. The point is not to wait for a petition before assessing whether the underlying business is viable. If you want to talk it through, our insolvency advice for directors is the place to start.