IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rmobxx/v12y2017i3p343-364.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Logistics at Work: Trucks, Containers and the Friction of Circulation in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Nicky Gregson

Abstract

This paper examines logistics at work, focusing on owner-drivers in the UK container haulage industry. It draws on qualitative research conducted in south-east England in 2013 to show that the just-in-time 24/7/365 delivery required by logistics purchasers, and offered by logistics providers, is achieved in the UK logistics space through drivers displacing work, stretching time and running out of time. The location of owner-drivers in the logistics precariat is established, as is the relationship of financial precarity to the circulation of containers in the UK logistics space. Through focusing on logistics as physical real-time circulation, and not just logistics as power and discipline, the paper demonstrates the importance and effects of the friction of circulation in terrestrial (and maritime) space. It further establishes the effects of precariatisation on logistics labour in UK container haulage. These are: a crisis in labour supply, the Eastern Europeanisation of the sector and increasing pressures to illegal working practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicky Gregson, 2017. "Logistics at Work: Trucks, Containers and the Friction of Circulation in the UK," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 343-364, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rmobxx:v:12:y:2017:i:3:p:343-364
    DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2015.1087680
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17450101.2015.1087680
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/17450101.2015.1087680?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ryszard K. Miler & Marcin J. Kisielewski & Anna Brzozowska & Antonina Kalinichenko, 2020. "Efficiency of Telematics Systems in Management of Operational Activities in Road Transport Enterprises," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Cidell, Julie, 2019. "Secessionist automobility and freight railroads: Fear of the “urban” in Chicago's suburbs," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 58-66.
    3. Jason Monios, 2023. "When smooth space becomes turbulent: The collapse of Hanjin Shipping and the immobilisation of ships, containers, goods and people," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(2), pages 320-338, March.
    4. Helwing Veronique & Verfürth Philip & Franz Martin, 2023. "Trucking (un)limited – the impact of digital platforms on labour in production networks of logistics," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 67(4), pages 177-188, December.
    5. Stephen J. Ramos, 2021. "Materiality in the Seam Space: Sketches for a Transitional Port City Dome District," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(3), pages 210-222.
    6. Hopkins, Debbie & Schwanen, Tim, 2023. "Sociotechnical expectations of vehicle automation in the UK trucking sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:rmobxx:v:12:y:2017:i:3:p:343-364. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/rmob20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.