It also revealed that more than half of all new business won over the past six months came from new customers who have switched from others service providers. More than three-quarters of operators are planning to invest in capital expenditure over the next 12 months.
The bi-annual Index, commissioned by Barclays and Moore Stephens, also revealed that less than one in 10 (9%) of operators said their main source of new business had come from customers renewing existing contracts, a drop of 10% since the last survey in H2 2014.
More encouragingly, a third of firms said current customers expanding had been their primary source of new contracts. The survey results suggest that major manufacturers are increasingly likely to shop around to meet their price and service expectations rather than renewing contracts automatically.
However, confidence in the sector has remained steady with 37% saying that business conditions are more favourable compared to the previous six months; an increase of 25% since the beginning of 2012. The outlook for the next six months is similarly confident with almost eight in 10 respondents (79%) expecting the outlook to improve or stay the same and over half (55%) looking to increase headcount.
This confidence is translating into higher turnover expectations as just over four-fifths (81%) of businesses expect an increase over the coming year, with almost 16% looking at a rise of 10% or more. Two-thirds of operators (67%) expect an increase in their profitability and three-quarters (75%) believe it likely that their company will make significant capital expenditure over the next six months with just over 40% saying that this is very likely.
Rob Riddleston, head of transport and logistics at Barclays, said: "The high level of planned capital expenditure is welcome news for the industry and reflects the sector's pressing need for investment in technology, particularly IT, in order to drive greater efficiencies, productivity and to improve service.
"Such investment is critical to winning new business and with margins increasingly being squeezed, the survey would suggest that operators are looking to invest now in order to realise the rewards to be had in this vitally important business sector."
