Maersk Inland: Connecting Supply Chains Across Europe

European consumers are predicted to grow exponentially, but many EU citizens live in inaccessible areas where they struggle to receive deliveries effectively.

With this, logistics professionals face varying difficulties when attempting to get the product to the consumer, such as hidden fees or issues with warehousing arrangements. 

To overcome this, Maersk Inland can help companies seize new market opportunities by connecting cargo to every part of Europe.

Adapting to demand

It is projected that the European consumer class will grow from 3.7bn in 2025 to 5bn in 2030 and spending across major European cities will rise 2.2% in 2025 alone.

Despite this, 9% of EU citizens are living in remote areas which do not have the appropriate infrastructure to meet consumer needs.

Logistics partners look at every way they can reach a customer with peak efficiency, delivering their product reliably and cost-effectively. 

Sometimes, however, delivery is limited to "a patchwork of local carriers, ad-hoc warehousing arrangements and unreliable processes," according to Maersk. 

This can result in hidden fees, higher costs and delivery delays.

To prevent this, Maersk came up with Maersk Inland - a logistics solution which offers seamless scalable inland transportation. 

Whatever the size of a shipment, Maersk is able to adapt and deliver to any location with total precision. 

A multimodal network

In Central and Eastern Europe, cities like Prague, Warsaw and Bucharest saw increasingly-growing import volumes and consumer-spend growth in 2024. Despite this, approximately 37m people in remote European areas remained limited with their consumer purchasing.

For logistics brands who can smoothly connect every aspect of delivery, from first to last, there is an opportunity for major growth.

Artists in rural areas can take to platforms like Etsy to sell their goods around the world, as long as a logistics brand can make itself accessible.

As more pick-up lockers are being added around the world, last-mile delivery is becoming even more accessible to those in remote areas.

Maersk warns: "for brands, only the fastest will survive. If your lead-times or service quality falter, a more agile competitor will claim the growth."

As Maersk has already made itself available across rail, road and barge services across Europe, filling its market gaps will be an easy fix, rather than a larger investment into new infrastructure.

Maersk has three areas of Inland:

• Road - containerised trucking allows for reach and consistency, as it is the most accessible option and can cover even remote areas. With the sheer volume of trucks under Maersk's care, businesses can reach any consumer.
• Rail - electrified rail offers reliability and scale, increasing door-to-door speed between land-locked cities. Through fixed timetables and lower weather sensitivity, rail is the most reliable for regional distribution centres.
• Barge - this is the most cost-efficient and sustainable method, ready for use throughout Europe's waterways like the Seine and the Rhine. For goods such as beverages or building materials which are heavy and low-time pressure, barge allows the avoidance of terminals and for flexibility.

If companies can combine these areas, they're using Inland to the best advantage.

Through multimodal implementation, companies can balance speed with cost, buffer against disruption and optimise inventory placement, as the three can work together and replace each other during times of need.

Streamlining supply chains

Maersk says that logistics managers need a single-partner model.

Its Lead Logistics services combine stakeholder management systems with shipment data in order to manage the tracking of shipments and invesntories.

As Maersk has assets across three different transportation sectors, it does not require third-party companies getting involved if rerouting is required. This allows for a smoother transition period: the handovers occur in-network meaning less paperwork, more efficiency and more reliability.

Brands that cannot adapt to a multi-modal transportation system risk loosing out on consumers.

By implementing Maersk Inland, logistics teams around Europe are opening themselves up to new consumers and building a resilient, streamlined supply chain with a single data stream.