In 2026, delivery performance in Europe will depend less on individual shipments and more on how your entire supply chain is designed.
The old equation that optimized for unit cost first and dealt with disruption later is breaking down. Geopolitics, climate events, labor actions, and regulatory change are exposing how fragile single-source, long-haul models can be. At the same time, customer expectations for availability and reliable delivery are not softening.
In response, European manufacturers and retailers are redesigning their networks around resilience and targeted nearshoring. That shift has direct consequences for logistics and delivery management.
This article is part of our series on 2026 delivery trends and draws on our new report, The Future of delivery: Key trends shaping 2026.
Resilience is now a design principle, not a damage-control tactic
Maersk’s 2024 European Business Resilience survey of more than 2,000 companies found that:
- 76% of businesses experienced disruptive delays in the previous 12 months
- More than half are considering new sourcing locations
- Almost one third of those new locations are in or near Europe, in countries such as Türkiye, Egypt, Poland, Morocco, and Romania
In parallel, EU policy and industry analysis point to selective re-industrialization in strategic sectors such as:
- Batteries and net-zero technologies
- Semiconductors under the EU Chips Act
- Pharmaceuticals and medical products
- Defence, machinery, and automotive
The emerging pattern is often described as “in Europe for Europe”. Critical supply chains may still trade globally, but they gain a stronger regional base so that essential flows do not depend on a single distant source.
Resilience moves from PowerPoint slide to network blueprint.
What resilience and nearshoring actually look like in 2026
Most companies are not abandoning global sourcing or shutting down long-established supply routes. Instead, they are rebalancing. In practical terms, that means a mix of:
- Dual or multi-sourcing for key inputs
- Selective nearshoring and new regional hubs inside or near the EU
- Critical inventory buffers at strategically chosen nodes
- Better risk monitoring across suppliers, routes, and regions
For European networks, this leads to:
- New origin points in Türkiye, North Africa, and Eastern Europe
- Additional distribution centers inside the EU and UK
- More intra-European flows and regional trade lanes
- More complex routing choices and fallback paths
Delivery systems have to keep up. Routing, carrier selection, documentation, and tracking need to work across more lane combinations, not fewer.
For logistics and delivery teams, resilience becomes a front-end reality, not just a sourcing concept:
- Can you re-route volume quickly when a primary lane is disrupted?
- Can you spin up a new regional hub or carrier without a six-month IT program?
- Can planners see the impact of network changes on service, cost, and carbon in one place?
If the answer is no, there is a resilience strategy on slideware and an operational system that has not caught up.
Source: Maersk
How this 2026 delivery trend connects to the others
Resilience and targeted nearshoring do not sit in a vacuum. They intersect with several other 2026 delivery trends:
- Platformization and API ecosystems: when you work with more carriers and more routes, standardized APIs and shared platforms become the only practical way to keep integrations under control.
- Predictive analytics and digital twins: scenario planning, “what-if” routing, and early warnings for disruption depend on reliable data and network models.
- Electrification and green fleets: new regional flows must still align with emissions targets, CO₂ standards, and local access rules.
- Regulatory backbone and data: customs, documentation, and carbon reporting requirements are different for regional vs global flows and must be reflected in systems.
Resilience is now the integration point where sourcing, network design, delivery management, and compliance now meet.
What this means for different players
Manufacturers and retailers: Build “bend, don’t break” networks
2026 outlook
Manufacturers and retailers that treat resilience as a design requirement will move away from single-point dependencies. They will operate with more regional hubs, more diverse suppliers, and more European routes. When disruption hits, they will flex routes and stock positions instead of accepting stockouts or long delays.
Those who treat resilience as an afterthought will continue to encounter:
- Repeated stockouts on high-value items
- Firefighting around promotions and peaks
- Rush freight and emergency sourcing that erase margin
Where to focus now
- Map critical dependencies: identify which SKUs, components, and suppliers have disproportionate impact if they fail. Those become first in line for dual sourcing or regional backup.
- Design regional scenarios: use simple network models or digital twins to test how new European hubs, nearshore suppliers, or alternate ports affect lead times, landed cost, and service levels.
- Link sourcing and delivery planning: ensure that procurement, supply chain planning, and delivery management work from the same view of lanes, risks, and fallback options.
Delivery systems should be part of the resilience conversation from day one, not informed once contracts are signed.
Carriers and logistics service providers: Match your network to new routes
2026 outlook
Carriers and logistics service providers that adapt to new origin–destination pairs will become preferred partners as shippers rebalance networks. Those that remain tied to old long-haul assumptions will see tenders flow to more flexible competitors.
Shippers will look for partners who can:
- Cover new nearshore origins and regional hubs
- Offer transparent service levels on reconfigured trade lanes
- Provide data on reliability and emissions across these routes
Where to focus now
- Align your network map to nearshoring patterns: track where customers are adding plants, suppliers, or DCs, and adjust your lane portfolio accordingly.
- Invest in planning and visibility: make transit profiles, reliability data, and disruption histories available for new and reactivated routes so customers can compare options with confidence.
- Make experimentation easy: reduce onboarding friction so shippers can trial new lanes, services, or hubs without long implementation cycles. Being “easy to test” is a competitive edge.
Platforms and technology providers: Make network changes operationally realistic
2026 outlook
Delivery management platforms, TMS, and analytics tools that support fast network reconfiguration will be central to resilience strategies. Shippers will expect to:
- Add or switch carriers without custom coding each time
- Adjust routing rules when risk levels change
- Compare performance across multiple carriers and lanes on shared metrics
Tools that lock customers into rigid flows or opaque data models will sit on the wrong side of 2026 delivery trends.
Where to focus now
- Standardize connections: support a broad carrier network with consistent APIs, data structures, and event models. This cuts the time needed to bring a new lane or provider online.
- Translate strategy into rules: give customers configurable routing rules that encode business logic. For example, “ship from nearest European hub that protects service level and carbon target” rather than hard-coded lane lists.
- Surface risk and resilience metrics: incorporate indicators such as alternative route availability, historical disruption, and recovery time into dashboards and decision tools.
This is exactly where a multi-carrier platform earns its keep. When adding or shifting lanes and carriers is a configuration task rather than an IT project, resilience becomes operationally achievable.
Get the full picture
This article is part of our research on “The future of delivery: Key trends shaping 2026”, which covers ten interconnected trends across AI, platforms, regulation, resilience, and retail demand.
For the complete picture, with detailed data, references, and recommendations for each stakeholder group, download the full report: Future of delivery 2026.
