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

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  • 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
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Hopkins, Debbie & Schwanen, Tim, 2023. "Sociotechnical expectations of vehicle automation in the UK trucking sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    6. 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.

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