Be ready to stay ahead of the game

With tightening stringent regulations and economic uncertainty, companies across Europe are rethinking their operations – not only to protect their supply chains, but also to unlock new revenue streams and drive greater efficiency.

Building a supply chain that can weather uncertainty requires a holistic approach. From smarter sourcing to digital transformation, here are three essential elements that businesses must embrace to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Adopt a strategic approach to sourcing

A trend that reflects the proactive approach many businesses are taking to avoid the potential disruptions they might face, for example, if your primary supplier faces delays or cannot meet the requirements of a short-term spike in demand.

Of course, greater supplier diversification requires more adaptable transport modes, so you can swiftly respond to changes in your upstream supply chain. Maersk’s services can be orchestrated together and tailored to keep your supply chain on track, whatever the challenge. Inland provides flexible rail, road and barge options for transportation, enabling businesses to choose the best modes for their needs. By managing inland transportation through one partner, you can reduce handovers and complexity, and improve reliability.

Air provides a reliable option for moving time critical cargo quickly and reliably, such as when there is a spike in demand in one market, or when there has been disruption in your usual supply chain.

Be ready to navigate increasingly complex customs rules that come with sourcing from suppliers in different countries by adding Maersk customs clearance to your booking As an Authorised Economic Operator, we provide a dedicated point of contact for customs clearance to help keep your business compliant.

Combine warehousing and fulfilment

Your warehousing strategy is a critical part of ensuring efficient, adaptable distribution and fulfillment. Strategically located warehouses help you to keep popular goods closer to markets in which they are needed, while slower selling ones can be stored in locations where it is cheaper to do so. For example, storing an item in a bonded warehouse somewhere in Europe that gets distributed to Norway or the UK would require EU import duties, only the application of UK VAT.

It’s little wonder, then, that the global market of bonded warehouses is projected to experience significant growth in the next few years, reaching $273.6bn by 2031.

Bonded warehouses allow businesses to perform value-adding services such as packaging and manufacturing within the warehouse itself, minimising waste and transit costs. They also provide the flexibility to reroute goods to other destinations as market conditions shift. And by providing businesses with the ability to defer duties and taxes until goods are sold, bonded warehouses help ease up-front financial pressures.

Maersk’s Contract Logistics enables you to take advantage of our deep warehousing and fulfilment expertise, ensuring full value chain efficiency, reduce lead times and adapt quickly to changing market demands.

Invest in revenue-driving digital transformation

Without the right digital tools, the ever-changing anatomy of supply chain logistics puts businesses at risk of inefficiencies and missed opportunities.

Luckily, according to a survey by EY, nearly two-thirds of supply chain leaders are planning for continued, long-term tech investments, saying they expect their supply chains will be autonomous by 2035.

Key digital innovations, such as AI-driven demand forecasting, real-time tracking and automation, are helping businesses reduce costs, speed up delivery times and improve customer satisfaction – all of which help to boost a business’s bottom line. Real-time visibility across the supply chain has never been more important in helping businesses anticipate and address disruptions.

Those that embrace digital initiatives will not only set themselves up for continued operational efficiency, but they will also start unlocking new revenue streams by leveraging data-driven decision-making. Digital tracking solutions across Inland, Air and Customs processes improve operational efficiency.

Start future-proofing your supply chain today

For European businesses, supply chain disruptions aren’t hypothetical – they’re a reality. In a survey of more than 2,000 of Maersk’s European customers, the majority (58%) have experienced disruptions that were most costly than they were prepared for, with one in five experiencing more than 20 incidents in the last 12 months.