Yorkshire’s transport sector grows by 50%, eclipsing the national average

Yorkshire’s transport sector is the fastest growing in the region with the number of companies rising by 53% in the past year, outperforming the national growth in the number of transport and haulage companies by nearly 25%.

According to the latest research by insolvency trade body R3, there are more than 4,000 active transport and haulage companies in the region in February 2016, an increase of nearly 1,500 since the same time last year.

Yorkshire’s hospitality sector has also seen an increase in the number of starts up over the course of the year. The number of active hotels in Yorkshire rose by 6.5% to over 480; pubs across the region also increased by 11% to around 1,900; and restaurants also saw a 15% increase in new businesses to more than 3,000.

The figures, however, show that these sectors are also some of the most risky, with 20% of hotels, 37% of pubs and 38% of restaurants in the region at higher than normal risk of insolvency.

Adrian Berry, chair of R3 in Yorkshire and restructuring partner at Deloitte LLP, commented: “Despite the difficulties the sector experienced last year due to the disruption at Calais and driver shortages, Yorkshire’s transport sector is yet again, proving itself to be resilient.

“Having recovered from the tougher economic landscape of 2014, the region has performed particularly well, partly due to increased activity at Northern ports as companies seek alternative routes to continental Europe. The uplift may also be a result of increased domestic and worldwide freight activity and lower fuel costs. However, the impact of business confidence in the eurozone remains an issue as well as uncertainty over future economic policies as the EU referendum approaches.”

Mr Berry added: “It is also encouraging to see increased confidence and investment amongst Yorkshire’s hospitality sector which is so important to our region’s economy.”

The figures also show that the number of active companies overall in Yorkshire has been growing by an average of around 1,100 per month to reach over 194,000 in February 2016.

R3 uses research compiled from Bureau van Dijk’s ‘Fame’ database of company information to track the number of businesses in key regional sectors that have a heightened risk of entering insolvency in the next year.

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