What We Learned at Multimodal 2026: Four Trends Shaping UK Road Freight
Summary
Introduction
Every logistics event promises to showcase the future of the industry. While new technologies certainly attracted attention at Multimodal 2026, the most valuable insights came from conversations with the people responsible for running transport operations every day.
Over the course of the event, we spoke with freight forwarders, shippers, software vendors, transport consultants, academics, IoT providers, and industry associations. Although their businesses varied significantly, many of the operational challenges they described were remarkably similar.
Rather than summarising the exhibition itself, here are the four themes that appeared repeatedly throughout our conversations.
1. Carrier Management Is Becoming the Next Operational Bottleneck
Many organisations have already digitised significant parts of their logistics operations.
Customs documentation, invoicing, EDI, GPS tracking, and warehouse systems are becoming increasingly mature. Yet despite these advances, many transport teams still spend much of their day coordinating carriers through emails, phone calls, and spreadsheets.
Several discussions reinforced the same observation: operational growth is becoming constrained not by transport capacity, but by the amount of manual coordination required to manage carrier relationships.
As shipment volumes increase, these manual processes become increasingly difficult to scale. Improving carrier collaboration, automating tendering, and creating shared operational visibility are becoming priorities for many logistics teams.
2. Integration Matters More Than Replacement
One message came through consistently: organisations are not looking to replace every system they already use.
Instead, they want existing investments to work together.
Conversations frequently centred around:
API integrations
EDI connectivity
eCMR adoption
ERP integration
Transport Management Systems (TMS)
Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
Rather than searching for another standalone platform, businesses are looking for solutions that connect existing systems, eliminate duplicate data entry, and improve operational workflows across the supply chain.
For logistics technology providers, this is an important shift. The value increasingly lies in integration rather than replacement.
3. Trust Remains the Biggest Barrier to Adoption
One lesson stood out during conversations with potential customers and partners.
Technology alone is rarely enough to convince organisations to change established operational processes.
Decision-makers want evidence.
They want to see successful implementations, measurable operational improvements, and examples from businesses facing similar challenges.
Whether discussing AI, transport management software, or digital freight coordination, trust consistently outweighed technical capability as the deciding factor.
For technology providers, building credibility through customer success stories, industry engagement, and long-term relationships is becoming just as important as developing new features.
4. The UK Logistics Community Is More Connected Than It Appears
One of the most positive observations from the event was how closely connected the UK logistics ecosystem has become.
Consultants introduce technology providers.
Industry associations connect manufacturers with logistics specialists.
System integrators collaborate with software companies.
Academic institutions work alongside commercial organisations to explore practical applications of digitalisation and AI.
These relationships create opportunities that extend well beyond individual sales conversations.
For companies entering the UK market, building genuine relationships across the wider logistics ecosystem may prove just as valuable as approaching end customers directly.
Final Thoughts
Multimodal 2026 reinforced something we have increasingly observed over the past year.
The future of freight technology is no longer about replacing transport management systems with entirely new platforms.
Instead, it is about improving the operational workflows that connect shippers, carriers, warehouses, ERP systems, and logistics partners into a more efficient and collaborative network.
As the industry continues to embrace digitalisation and AI, organisations that focus on integration, trusted partnerships, and practical operational improvements are likely to gain the greatest competitive advantage.
For us, the event provided much more than new contacts. It confirmed that many of the challenges facing UK logistics today are shared across the industry—and that solving them will require collaboration as much as technology.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their experiences and perspectives during Multimodal 2026. In particular, we appreciated the conversations with representatives from Logistics UK, Clarksons Port Services, IGD, Maersk, Mandata, AEB, Trimble, Buckle Shipping, Intangles, Qargo, TAPA EMEA, and many other organisations that are helping shape the future of UK logistics.
