Commercial fleet activity in the UK has recovered to 84% of its pre-Covid-19 baseline after ‘Super Saturday’ pushed ongoing activity growth to a new high.
The figures from a new Commercial Mobility Recovery Dashboard developed by Geotab and Webfleet Solutions, showing that transport recovery is well underway in the UK although we’re lagging compared to our peers in the EU.
The jointly built dashboard keeps a pulse on commercial fleet activity recovery, outlines activity on a country by country basis, as well by three sub-sectors; business services, construction and freight.
Serving as a commercial activity barometer, the data has been published three months since lockdown was first imposed on 23 March in the UK. Despite a positive trend over last quarter, the UK transport sector lags behind its EU peers, with France at 97%, Germany at 99%, Italy at 98%, Netherlands at 92%, Poland at 92% and Spain at 84%, and tying with the UK.
The data also compared the first and second week of each country’s imposition of strict measures and found UK activity fell to an average of 63% (23-29 March), and avg. 52% (30 March – 5 April). The French activity fell to avg. 42% (17-22 March), and avg. 35% (23-29 March). In Denmark, activity fell to avg. 86% (23-29 March), and avg. 86% (30 March – 5 April). Italian activity fell to avg. 76% (9-15 March), and avg. 61% (16-22 March). Finally, Spanish activity fell to avg. 56% (16-22 March), and avg. 53% (23-29 March).
Since its second week of lockdown, commencing 30 March, UK transport activity has recovered an average of only 2.6% per week. This compares to FR 4.8%, DE 1.1% (due to its lockdown having the least impact on any measured region), ES 2.4%, and IT 2.7%.
However, the week following ‘Super Saturday’ commencing 6 July – when the UK hospitality industry re-opened to the public – saw a total recovery rate of 5%, with UK recovery climbing from 79% the week prior to 84% on 10 July.
Among the sub-sectors, UK freight & logistics is the strongest at 94% of pre-covid-19 baseline while construction is now at 88% and business services – consisting of non-essential services such as cleaning, office supply deliveries and facilities management – stands at 71%.
David Savage, regional manager, UK & Ireland of Geotab, said: “As the lifeblood to our economies, commercial fleet activity can act as a strong economic barometer, used to help inform policy, management and forecasting at both macro and local levels. As vehicles become more connected and telematics technology more widely adopted, we will see it not only help shape these decisions but also drive huge cost efficiencies and breakthrough innovations in how our society functions.”
Beverley Wise, sales director UK & Ireland of Webfleet Solutions, added: “Now more than ever, it is crucial that we make the most out of the anonymised and aggregated data available to us in analysing the impacts on our businesses and our economy. This joint initiative enables us to provide deep data-driven insights that will also help support our customers to get their businesses back on the road as they plan their route to recovery.”
To access the data, click here.
