What 2026 Holds for Hull and the Humberside Economy

As someone who’s owned an insurance broker in Hull for nearly twenty years, I’ve got to know the local economy well. Commercial insurance, be it liability insurance, fleet insurance, or something more general like commercial combined insurance, brings me into contact with business owners of all kinds. They say insurance, like advertising, is a good barometer of the economy. If that’s the case, then I think Hull and Humberside have a lot to look forward to in 2026.

When I opened in Hull, it was a very different city from the one it is today. In the mid-2000s, its economy was defined by fishing, chemical industries, and oil refining. It was industrial, traditional, and frankly, falling behind. Over the last few years, it has been transformed into a green, high-tech centre which has become known for innovation and a growing national and international profile.

Renewable energy, logistics, port modernisation, and new investment corridors are the champions of the new economy. The result has been growth that has far outstripped the national average and development on an unprecedented scale. Anyone who has visited the city in the past few years can’t have helped but see the scale of the developments in progress. Or have you been frustrated by the traffic in Castle Street?!

In this blog, an unashamed hymn to Hull (go Hull KR), I’ll look at what’s to come for Hull and Humberside in 2026. I’ll look at the challenges and opportunities and consider what’s next for this incredible region.

I hope this will prove interesting. If you’d like some help or an insurance quote from your local independent broker, then please get in touch. You can call us on 01482 434343 or get a quote here.

Business in Hull and Humberside 2026: The Power to Turn Green into Gold

Humberside is recognised as the UK’s ‘Energy Estuary’. Uniquely in the UK, it is central to traditional and renewable energy. The Humber is home to two of the UK’s main oil refineries and is a hub for importing and processing natural gas. It’s also one of the most important centres of wind power generation. There are eight operational wind farms in the region, housing 757 turbines. All told, our region provides 20% of the UK’s electricity, a figure that’s set to rise further as the green energy sector expands. Investment from companies such as Siemens Gamesa and Orsted helped make Humberside the world’s largest offshore wind cluster.

Thanks to firms like Siemens, the Humber isn’t just a major generator of wind energy; it also produces the equipment required to harness it. The importance of this is hard to overestimate. The government is committed to carbon-neutral energy production, and it has a rolling programme of investment, including:

Contracts for Difference (CfD) Scheme – developers bid for a guaranteed price (strike price) for the electricity they produce over 20 years. The most recent auction round (AR7), announced in October 2025, has a budget of £1.08 billion for offshore and floating offshore wind, aiming to secure several gigawatts of new capacity
Increased capacity targets – a target to deploy up to 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030 – that’s more than double the 22.7 GW it generates today
Public-Private Funding – the government has established a £1 billion public-private investment fund, via Great British Energy (GBE) and The Crown Estate, to boost the domestic offshore wind supply chain, including manufacturing facilities and port infrastructure in regions like the Humber

And the good news doesn’t end there. The Humber has been identified as having significant potential as a centre of carbon capture and storage. The concentration of heavy industry, existing energy infrastructure, and offshore geological storage sites under the North Sea. The government is investing over £21bn into this emerging industry, one that’s set to be worth over £100bn by 2050, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The other green power technology that’s getting people excited is the potential for hydrogen production on the Humber. Thanks to its gas processing infrastructure and its wind power resources, the Humber is ideally suited to the production of blue hydrogen (from gas) and green hydrogen from renewable sources. A 120MW green hydrogen facility is set to open in 2029 at the Phillips 66 refinery, and a 720MW blue hydrogen production facility with carbon capture and storage is also in development.

The Port Economy: The Backbone of 2026 Growth

While futuristic energy technologies will be important to the region in 2026, the main driver of growth remains Humberside’s ports. Hull, Immingham, Goole and Grimsby are a port cluster that is expected to grow in strategic importance next year. In 2026, the port cluster is expected to grow in strategic importance due to:

Increased international shipping demand– the world has become a connected, if much more uncertain, place. Trade routes continue to shift due to geopolitical realignment and reshoring trends. The Humber, with its deep-water capacity, central UK location and network of road and rail links, is well-positioned to absorb new cargo volumes. According to Associated British Ports (ABP) figures, in 2024, 41.6% of all fish imported into the UK came through the port, a 10.5% growth compared to 2023, while Grimsby and Immingham saw a 7% increase in oil product volumes. With new investments such as Stena Line and ABP’s work on a new £200m freight ferry terminal at Immingham, 2026 is already looking bright.
Expansion in offshore wind assembly and maintenance – Grimsby is already Europe’s largest operations and maintenance port for offshore wind. RWE opened its multi-million-pound offshore wind Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Hub at Grimsby in July and will invest £15bn in the UK by 2030.
Rising investment in port-centric logistics –the rise and rise of online shopping is proving good news for the region’s logistics sector. As one of the UK’s leading providers of HGV fleet and logistics insurance, we keep a keen eye on what’s happening here. The UK’s ecommerce sector is now worth over £95bn (ONS figures) and is predicted to rise to £680bn by 2030. This had led to a surge in demand for warehousing, last-mile distribution centres, and easy access to the rest of the UK. With the ports bringing in so many goods and with its rail and road access along the M62 and A63, the future looks bright.

Green Port Initiatives

The Humber is moving toward becoming the UK’s first net-zero industrial cluster. The ports play a central role in:

Hydrogen storage and transport
Sustainable fuels
Clean energy logistics

Hydrogen could be a game-changer for logistics and haulage businesses. While there has been some movement on electric truck technology, eHGV, our HGV fleet insurance clients tell us that they have more faith in hydrogen trucks as the long-term solution to green logistics. If it is produced here, it’s only logical that fuelling stations will come here too, and that could provide a massive competitive advantage to truck owners in terms of fuel savings and tax burdens.

Entering 2026, the region finds itself optimistic but pressured, and the next 12–18 months will be defined by how effectively it addresses skills shortages, decarbonisation costs, and infrastructure bottlenecks.

Logistics & Freight Sector: Gradual Expansion, Fast Modernisation

Logistics is the fifth largest sector in the Humberside economy. Little wonder then that logistics insurance plays such a big part in my business. Hull and the Humber are logistics powerhouses due to their port access, rail freight links and proximity to major population centres. As an industry, it’s had a tough time of late, facing challenges including:

A shortage of HGV drivers – currently at 56,000, with a requirement for another 20,000 per year according to the Road Haulage Association (RHA)
Pressure to switch to net zero – Gov.co.uk’s figures show that at the end of 2024, there were just 1,271 electric HGVs on the UK’s roads in 2024, 0.02% of the UK’s HGV fleet
Increased paperwork post-Brexit
Increased demand is putting pressure on drivers
Intense competition
Rising fuel prices and the effects of general inflation

The Humber has been resilient in the face of these challenges, not least as it has natural advantages. Firms are looking for more nearshoring and reshoring with shorter, more resilient supply chains. The Humber offers this as it has:

A central location
Easy access to deep water and North Sea shipping routes
Strong transport infrastructure
A capacity for large distribution hubs, as industrial land is plentiful and relatively cheap

I asked one of my logistics insurance clients, one who runs a large specialist firm in Hessle, where the opportunities are, and he said:

‘2026 you’ll see investment in cold chain and specialist logistics. Big growth sectors will be pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, temperature-controlled supply, and high-value goods storage. Investment in AI technologies will be everywhere, but especially in route planning and warehouse optimisation and predictive analytics. It’s going to transform our industry.’

Atradius has predicted 2.6% growth in the UK logistics sector in 2026, with even greater growth ahead. The Humber is uniquely positioned to benefit. Its existing advantages will be boosted by AI from Hull’s booming hi-tech sector. Logistics and HGV fleet insurance are set to play a big part in my business’s growth next year.

Digital, Tech & Creative Industries: The Silent Growth Engine

When I started up in Hull in 2006, the city’s economy was all heavy industry, the port, and transport. Fast forward 20 years and Hull’s a hi-tech centre of excellence with one of the fastest broadband speeds in the country. Firms like KCOM, Smith+Nephew, and Rix, plus a thousand start-ups and SMEs, have helped transform the region’s outlook and its fortunes. Today, there are clusters of growth centred on digital and creative industries such as:

Software and app development
Gaming and CGI
Data analytics
Digital marketing and media
Cybersecurity

Of these data analytics, software development and cybersecurity will see the greatest growth in our region next year. Helped by the government’s desire to unlock £100bn of investment through AI Growth Zones, one of which will be in the Northeast, 2026 will see these firms develop greater AI capabilities that will transform the way we do business.

Cybersecurity has become one of the UK’s greatest threats. In 2024, approximately 42% of small UK businesses (SMEs) experienced a cyber-attack or breach, with a higher percentage for medium businesses at around 67-70%, according to reports referencing the official UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey. AI has made attacks easier, more powerful and more prevalent. We’ve seen a record number of clients asking us for cyber insurance quotes, and as the internet of things takes over, the need for better cybersecurity becomes ever more important.

Housing, Infrastructure & Regeneration: Unlocking Growth

Affordable housing is a key to a region’s prosperity, and this is another area where Hull and Humberside have advantages. Despite recent price rises, house prices are well below the national average at £150k compared to the national average of over £280k (ONS data). Crucially, for a region that has its future prosperity set on tech and innovation, low rents and deposits make it easy for young people to find somewhere to live, which helps lure talent away from Leeds or York.

Our landlord insurance clients tell us that property hotspots have emerged in the last few years, and in 2026, significant demand is expected in:

Hessle
Beverley
Kingswood
West Hull villages
Barton-upon-Humber
Northern Lincolnshire commuter towns

While infrastructure remains a problem for the Humber, the works on the Castle Street/A63 should be complete in the spring. Rail improvements in 2026 include works as part of the East Coast Digital Programme and the ongoing TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU). The big one for rail is the upgrade as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail, while this won’t be ready until after 2030, the prospect of it will attract investment.

What 2026 Holds for Hull and the Humberside Economy

A lot! 2026 could be a transformative year for the region. Yes, problems remain. Shortages of skilled labour, infrastructure frustrations, and dependency on national government spending, but these can be overcome. As Hull and Humberside become established as carbon capture and hydrogen producing centres as well as hi-tech and logistics centres so it’s clear that its destiny is in its own hands.

The future’s bright!

Andy

Like some insurance help?

If you’d like personalised, independent insurance advice or an insurance quote, please call us on 01733 915 050 or request a callback.

December 10, 2025

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What 2026 Holds for Hull and the Humberside Economy

As someone who’s owned an insurance broker in Hull for nearly twenty years, I’ve got to know the local economy well. Commercial insurance, be it liability insurance, fleet insurance, or something more general like commercial combined insurance, brings me into contact with business owners of all kinds. They say insurance, like advertising, is a good barometer of the economy. If that’s the case, then I think Hull and Humberside have a lot to look forward to in 2026.

When I opened in Hull, it was a very different city from the one it is today. In the mid-2000s, its economy was defined by fishing, chemical industries, and oil refining. It was industrial, traditional, and frankly, falling behind. Over the last few years, it has been transformed into a green, high-tech centre which has become known for innovation and a growing national and international profile.

Renewable energy, logistics, port modernisation, and new investment corridors are the champions of the new economy. The result has been growth that has far outstripped the national average and development on an unprecedented scale. Anyone who has visited the city in the past few years can’t have helped but see the scale of the developments in progress. Or have you been frustrated by the traffic in Castle Street?!

In this blog, an unashamed hymn to Hull (go Hull KR), I’ll look at what’s to come for Hull and Humberside in 2026. I’ll look at the challenges and opportunities and consider what’s next for this incredible region.

I hope this will prove interesting. If you’d like some help or an insurance quote from your local independent broker, then please get in touch. You can call us on 01482 434343 or get a quote here.

Business in Hull and Humberside 2026: The Power to Turn Green into Gold

Humberside is recognised as the UK’s ‘Energy Estuary’. Uniquely in the UK, it is central to traditional and renewable energy. The Humber is home to two of the UK’s main oil refineries and is a hub for importing and processing natural gas. It’s also one of the most important centres of wind power generation. There are eight operational wind farms in the region, housing 757 turbines. All told, our region provides 20% of the UK’s electricity, a figure that’s set to rise further as the green energy sector expands. Investment from companies such as Siemens Gamesa and Orsted helped make Humberside the world’s largest offshore wind cluster.

Thanks to firms like Siemens, the Humber isn’t just a major generator of wind energy; it also produces the equipment required to harness it. The importance of this is hard to overestimate. The government is committed to carbon-neutral energy production, and it has a rolling programme of investment, including:

Contracts for Difference (CfD) Scheme – developers bid for a guaranteed price (strike price) for the electricity they produce over 20 years. The most recent auction round (AR7), announced in October 2025, has a budget of £1.08 billion for offshore and floating offshore wind, aiming to secure several gigawatts of new capacity
Increased capacity targets – a target to deploy up to 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030 – that’s more than double the 22.7 GW it generates today
Public-Private Funding – the government has established a £1 billion public-private investment fund, via Great British Energy (GBE) and The Crown Estate, to boost the domestic offshore wind supply chain, including manufacturing facilities and port infrastructure in regions like the Humber

And the good news doesn’t end there. The Humber has been identified as having significant potential as a centre of carbon capture and storage. The concentration of heavy industry, existing energy infrastructure, and offshore geological storage sites under the North Sea. The government is investing over £21bn into this emerging industry, one that’s set to be worth over £100bn by 2050, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The other green power technology that’s getting people excited is the potential for hydrogen production on the Humber. Thanks to its gas processing infrastructure and its wind power resources, the Humber is ideally suited to the production of blue hydrogen (from gas) and green hydrogen from renewable sources. A 120MW green hydrogen facility is set to open in 2029 at the Phillips 66 refinery, and a 720MW blue hydrogen production facility with carbon capture and storage is also in development.

The Port Economy: The Backbone of 2026 Growth

While futuristic energy technologies will be important to the region in 2026, the main driver of growth remains Humberside’s ports. Hull, Immingham, Goole and Grimsby are a port cluster that is expected to grow in strategic importance next year. In 2026, the port cluster is expected to grow in strategic importance due to:

Increased international shipping demand– the world has become a connected, if much more uncertain, place. Trade routes continue to shift due to geopolitical realignment and reshoring trends. The Humber, with its deep-water capacity, central UK location and network of road and rail links, is well-positioned to absorb new cargo volumes. According to Associated British Ports (ABP) figures, in 2024, 41.6% of all fish imported into the UK came through the port, a 10.5% growth compared to 2023, while Grimsby and Immingham saw a 7% increase in oil product volumes. With new investments such as Stena Line and ABP’s work on a new £200m freight ferry terminal at Immingham, 2026 is already looking bright.
Expansion in offshore wind assembly and maintenance – Grimsby is already Europe’s largest operations and maintenance port for offshore wind. RWE opened its multi-million-pound offshore wind Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Hub at Grimsby in July and will invest £15bn in the UK by 2030.
Rising investment in port-centric logistics –the rise and rise of online shopping is proving good news for the region’s logistics sector. As one of the UK’s leading providers of HGV fleet and logistics insurance, we keep a keen eye on what’s happening here. The UK’s ecommerce sector is now worth over £95bn (ONS figures) and is predicted to rise to £680bn by 2030. This had led to a surge in demand for warehousing, last-mile distribution centres, and easy access to the rest of the UK. With the ports bringing in so many goods and with its rail and road access along the M62 and A63, the future looks bright.

Green Port Initiatives

The Humber is moving toward becoming the UK’s first net-zero industrial cluster. The ports play a central role in:

Hydrogen storage and transport
Sustainable fuels
Clean energy logistics

Hydrogen could be a game-changer for logistics and haulage businesses. While there has been some movement on electric truck technology, eHGV, our HGV fleet insurance clients tell us that they have more faith in hydrogen trucks as the long-term solution to green logistics. If it is produced here, it’s only logical that fuelling stations will come here too, and that could provide a massive competitive advantage to truck owners in terms of fuel savings and tax burdens.

Entering 2026, the region finds itself optimistic but pressured, and the next 12–18 months will be defined by how effectively it addresses skills shortages, decarbonisation costs, and infrastructure bottlenecks.

Logistics & Freight Sector: Gradual Expansion, Fast Modernisation

Logistics is the fifth largest sector in the Humberside economy. Little wonder then that logistics insurance plays such a big part in my business. Hull and the Humber are logistics powerhouses due to their port access, rail freight links and proximity to major population centres. As an industry, it’s had a tough time of late, facing challenges including:

A shortage of HGV drivers – currently at 56,000, with a requirement for another 20,000 per year according to the Road Haulage Association (RHA)
Pressure to switch to net zero – Gov.co.uk’s figures show that at the end of 2024, there were just 1,271 electric HGVs on the UK’s roads in 2024, 0.02% of the UK’s HGV fleet
Increased paperwork post-Brexit
Increased demand is putting pressure on drivers
Intense competition
Rising fuel prices and the effects of general inflation

The Humber has been resilient in the face of these challenges, not least as it has natural advantages. Firms are looking for more nearshoring and reshoring with shorter, more resilient supply chains. The Humber offers this as it has:

A central location
Easy access to deep water and North Sea shipping routes
Strong transport infrastructure
A capacity for large distribution hubs, as industrial land is plentiful and relatively cheap

I asked one of my logistics insurance clients, one who runs a large specialist firm in Hessle, where the opportunities are, and he said:

‘2026 you’ll see investment in cold chain and specialist logistics. Big growth sectors will be pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, temperature-controlled supply, and high-value goods storage. Investment in AI technologies will be everywhere, but especially in route planning and warehouse optimisation and predictive analytics. It’s going to transform our industry.’

Atradius has predicted 2.6% growth in the UK logistics sector in 2026, with even greater growth ahead. The Humber is uniquely positioned to benefit. Its existing advantages will be boosted by AI from Hull’s booming hi-tech sector. Logistics and HGV fleet insurance are set to play a big part in my business’s growth next year.

Digital, Tech & Creative Industries: The Silent Growth Engine

When I started up in Hull in 2006, the city’s economy was all heavy industry, the port, and transport. Fast forward 20 years and Hull’s a hi-tech centre of excellence with one of the fastest broadband speeds in the country. Firms like KCOM, Smith+Nephew, and Rix, plus a thousand start-ups and SMEs, have helped transform the region’s outlook and its fortunes. Today, there are clusters of growth centred on digital and creative industries such as:

Software and app development
Gaming and CGI
Data analytics
Digital marketing and media
Cybersecurity

Of these data analytics, software development and cybersecurity will see the greatest growth in our region next year. Helped by the government’s desire to unlock £100bn of investment through AI Growth Zones, one of which will be in the Northeast, 2026 will see these firms develop greater AI capabilities that will transform the way we do business.

Cybersecurity has become one of the UK’s greatest threats. In 2024, approximately 42% of small UK businesses (SMEs) experienced a cyber-attack or breach, with a higher percentage for medium businesses at around 67-70%, according to reports referencing the official UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey. AI has made attacks easier, more powerful and more prevalent. We’ve seen a record number of clients asking us for cyber insurance quotes, and as the internet of things takes over, the need for better cybersecurity becomes ever more important.

Housing, Infrastructure & Regeneration: Unlocking Growth

Affordable housing is a key to a region’s prosperity, and this is another area where Hull and Humberside have advantages. Despite recent price rises, house prices are well below the national average at £150k compared to the national average of over £280k (ONS data). Crucially, for a region that has its future prosperity set on tech and innovation, low rents and deposits make it easy for young people to find somewhere to live, which helps lure talent away from Leeds or York.

Our landlord insurance clients tell us that property hotspots have emerged in the last few years, and in 2026, significant demand is expected in:

Hessle
Beverley
Kingswood
West Hull villages
Barton-upon-Humber
Northern Lincolnshire commuter towns

While infrastructure remains a problem for the Humber, the works on the Castle Street/A63 should be complete in the spring. Rail improvements in 2026 include works as part of the East Coast Digital Programme and the ongoing TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU). The big one for rail is the upgrade as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail, while this won’t be ready until after 2030, the prospect of it will attract investment.

What 2026 Holds for Hull and the Humberside Economy

A lot! 2026 could be a transformative year for the region. Yes, problems remain. Shortages of skilled labour, infrastructure frustrations, and dependency on national government spending, but these can be overcome. As Hull and Humberside become established as carbon capture and hydrogen producing centres as well as hi-tech and logistics centres so it’s clear that its destiny is in its own hands.

The future’s bright!

Andy

Like some insurance help?

If you’d like personalised, independent insurance advice or an insurance quote, please call us on 01733 915 050 or request a callback.

December 10, 2025