Despite the fact that 48% of European businesses aren’t yet using AI on their supply chain, it’s clear that the technology is already being viewed as a strategic priority across the continent. Maersk survey data shows that 70% of European organisations believe AI is important for supply chain competitiveness in the next 3-5 years, while 7% consider it critical.

What's driving this shift is the growing recognition that modern supply chains generate more information and data than human decision-makers can realistically process on their own.

For years, full supply chain visibility was seen as the industry's primary goal, but with AI in the picture, the industry goal has moved beyond visibility towards intelligent decision-making based on the data at hand.

In practical terms, this means bringing together multiple data sources into a single view and understanding the implications of different decisions. If disruption occurs at a port, for example, AI can help assess the impact on lead times, customer service, inventory levels, costs, and even emissions. Instead of simply highlighting a problem, it can help identify the best response.

Marrying supply chain resilience with efficiency

This capability is becoming particularly important as supply chains attempt to balance two objectives that have traditionally been in tension: efficiency and resilience.

Historically, businesses often had to choose between the two. Building resilience typically meant carrying additional inventory, creating back-up suppliers or investing in extra capacity. While these measures reduced risk, they also increased costs. On the flip side, highly efficient supply chains could become vulnerable to unexpected disruption.

AI is beginning to change that equation.

For example, if demand for a particular product suddenly spikes in one market, businesses have traditionally responded by ordering additional stock from manufacturers, often adding weeks to fulfilment times. AI can instead identify available inventory elsewhere in the network and recommend repositioning stock from nearby locations before shortages occur. The result is a supply chain that becomes both more resilient, more efficient, and more competitive against the market.

Looking ahead, the opportunity extends even further. Demand forecasting is increasingly being shaped by new sources of information that were previously difficult to incorporate into planning models – including social media trends, geopolitical developments, weather events, and changing consumer behaviour.

The industry is moving towards a future where a much wider range of signals can be connected to supply chain outcomes, helping organisations anticipate changes before they become disruptions. Add it all together, and what we’ll increasingly see is the ability to make faster, smarter and more informed decisions. Visibility remains important, but the next challenge is turning information into action.

In the above video, Jeffrey Guss (Maersk Global Head of Product Discovery) explains how AI will be essential for supply chain competitiveness as the technology develops, while also outlining that human judgement remains essential in applying business context and making strategic trade-offs that machines cannot fully understand… yet.

Data source: Survey of more than 800 Maersk customers across the Europe region (February 2026).