Big fleet cuts at Royal Mail have offset moves by parcels operators to beef up their fleets ahead of the busiest period of the year for online retail, latest figures from MT Fleet Data reveal.
As a result, the parcel giants are set to enter the peak season, which is forecast to start earlier this year, with fewer trucks than last year.
Overall, the number of trucks operated by the nine largest parcels carriers, at 20,960, is 1% lower than October last year. However, the number of trailers has actually increased by 3.1%.
Royal Mail has shed more than 500 trucks and 140 trailers in the past year. The company, which was acquired by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in April 2025, has been struggling with the decline of its letters business. In the year to 31 March 2026, letter volumes were down 10% to 5.72 billion units. This was only partially compensated for by a 7% increase in parcel volumes to 1.44m units.
Whistl has cut the number of trucks in its fleet by some 15%, while there has been a smaller reduction at UPS.
At the same time other operators have been boosting their fleets in the run-up to Black Friday and Christmas. Amazon has increased its truck fleet by 78% to 320, while its trailer fleet has grown 46% to 714. DPD’s truck fleet is 2.9% bigger than last year at 3,752 units, while Evri’s is 2.1% bigger at 3,205 units. Other operators expanding their fleets include DX and FedEx.
Evidence of preparation for the Christmas rush comes from the fact that a number of operators have expanded their fleets in the past few weeks including DPD, Evri and DX.
The fact that the number of trailers is increasing at the same time that the number of trucks is falling suggests that some fleets are changing their mix of equipment to meet market needs.
According to IMRG, the trade association for online retailers, Black Friday campaigns are starting earlier and earlier with some starting as early as the first working day in November. It is predicting that shoppers are likely to buy earlier spreading demand across a wider trading window. Overall, the expectation is that online sales will be largely flat but phased earlier than previous years.
IMRG also noted that returns begin to rise sharply during Black Friday week and predicts that there will be a significant increase in returns this peak season.
The continued growth of online retail is highlighted by the British Retail Consortium which said it accounted for 38.3% of all non-food sales in September, compared to 37.9% last year. Online non-food sales increased by 0.7% in September compared with 1% last year, it said.
Fleet Data is Motor Transport’s listing of the UK’s largest third party and own account HGV fleet operators. Based on the weekly O-licence updates issued by the Office of the Traffic Commissioners, Fleet Data enables subscribers quickly to identify operators in each of the eight traffic areas based on the number of vehicles on the licence and type of operator.
Express parcels market October 2026
Ranked by number of trucks