The UK's largest business group for the logistics industry, based in Tunbridge Wells, speaking up for companies that move goods by road, rail, sea and air.
Logistics UK is a membership organisation for businesses that move goods around the country and in and out of it. Its members run lorries and vans, rail freight, ports, airports and warehouses, and it also counts among them the retailers and manufacturers who buy those services. It describes itself as the only business group representing the whole industry, and its website says it has over 21,000 members. Put simply, it is the voice that talks to government on behalf of everyone who gets products onto shelves and doorsteps.
Its story is long. In 1889 a group of traders formed the Mansion House Association on Railway Rates to challenge unfair railway charges. Over the next century it joined with groups representing road users and shippers, and in 1969 they merged to form the Freight Transport Association, known as the FTA. In 1979 the British Shippers' Council, which represented importers and exporters, joined it. In 2020 the FTA changed its name to Logistics UK so that more people would understand who it speaks for. In its own words, Logistics UK "supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics", and it aims to inform, advise and support its members while acting as both a champion and a challenger when it talks to government.
Logistics UK's registered office is in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and that is the only office we could confirm from the pages we read. Its members, however, are spread across the whole of the UK, from large national firms to small family businesses. For example, its 20,000th member, welcomed on 30 September 2022, was a family-run groundworks business in Durham. Policy is shaped by members through regional and national councils, including councils for road freight, rail freight and shippers.
The people at Logistics UK describe a body that wants to grow its influence by growing its membership. Chief executive David Wells OBE said in 2022 that the more transport businesses and professionals the organisation represents, the more impact it can deliver. Its stated priorities include decarbonisation, skills shortages, technology and innovation. The organisation also publishes a regular Logistics Report and a Skills Report, and runs a quarterly Transport Activity Survey that government and policy makers use as a guide to how the economy is doing. Its social media channels had more than 109,000 followers at the end of 2025, according to its own website.
The jobs inside an organisation like this are not driving jobs but the people who support the industry. They include policy and public affairs advisers, researchers who write the industry reports, advisers who help members with transport law and compliance, trainers, event organisers, marketing and communications staff, and membership and finance teams. If you are curious about how rules on lorries, ports and trade are made, and how businesses try to shape them, this is a good place to learn how it works.
Website: logistics.org.uk
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