Freight forwarders to benefit from greater global free trade

 

According to Freight Forwarding 2015, a new report from market intelligence provider Key Note, between 2010 and 2014, the improving performance of the UK and global economies contributed towards rising volumes of trade to, from and within the UK.

 

This in turn has benefitted enterprises engaged in the freight forwarding sector, which have increasingly been called upon to facilitate these growing trade volumes. As such, Key Note forecasts that over the 5-year period between 2010 and 2014, the value of the freight forwarding market in the UK grew by 36.2%.

 

It is increasingly the case that free trade agreements among the world’s economies are leading to an enhanced overall volume of trade, which in turn is providing for greater opportunities for enterprises to be involved in the process. Going forward, the robustness of the UK freight forwarding market will be intricately linked with the developmental success of various free trade negotiations both ongoing and upcoming. Of most significance at present is the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and US, named the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

 

At a G8 summit held in Northern Ireland in June 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron claimed there was ‘no better way to drive growth and prosperity around the world’ than by reaching an accord on what he described as ‘the biggest bilateral trade deal in history’. Indeed, it should be noted that the 28 member states of the EU, alongside the US, have a combined population of over 800 million people and generate half of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). As the world’s two largest markets, the US and EU account for more than 40% of global trade.

 

In figures released by the European Commission, it has been forecast that the TTIP agreement would benefit the EU’s economy by around €120bn, with the US economy receiving a benefit of up to €90bn and the rest of the world gaining around €100bn. Despite an element of political and public opposition to the agreement on both sides of the Atlantic, it would appear at present that the negotiations are on pace, but that given the scale of the project, it is not anticipated that any deal will be finalised before 2016.

 

In addition to the aforementioned, Key Note’s Freight Forwarding 2015 Market Report evaluates the current and forecast performance of the UK’s freight forwarding market. The report looks at the key drivers in the market, in addition to current and future trends that are impacting upon the marketplace. The report also includes a full political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legislative analysis of the market, while gauging the leading competitors currently engaged in the sector.