Maersk bets vertical integration will win the Last Mile

Last-mile delivery is where every upstream mistake finally comes due. It is the last stop before the customer, the last chance to get an order right. It is also the first place where blame lands when something goes wrong.

Maersk is betting that connecting every link in that chain, from the port to the doorstep, is key to reducing friction and improving visibility across the customer journey.

“When we talk about optimization on last mile, I think last mile gives and creates the data points that amplify the upstream issues,” said Prashant Shah, Head of E-commerce for North America at Maersk. “To me, last mile isn’t just a cost center anymore. The last mile, when we are looking at it, is data intelligence we can use to help the upstreams out.”

That reframing sits at the center of how Maersk is building out its North American ground and e-commerce operations, according to Shah and Joe Johnson, Head of Pricing for Maersk Ground Freight (MGF) in North America.

The Last Mile as a Data Intelligence Engine Shah said most companies treat last-mile delivery as an isolated function, missing the upstream problems it actually reveals: inventory allocation, product development, or how quickly a customer got a response after placing an order. window. googletag = window. googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd.

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Last-mile delivery sits at the end of the supply chain and functions as a domino effect. That is, any upstream failure surfaces there first, with nothing left to catch it once the package reaches the customer’s door. Johnson framed the stakes in terms of what the customer actually sees.

“The final mile is the part that’s visible to the end customer,” Johnson said. “They don’t see the Maersk vessel coming across with their freight. They don’t see the pickup in China. They see that last-mile delivery. So we need to better understand: Is it actually a last mile problem, or what can we do to improve that overall customer experience?”

Vertical Integration in the Supply Chain Pays Off Maersk’s pitch to shippers goes beyond ground freight. Shah described a customer relationship that starts in Vietnam and handles its shipment with Maersk.

By bringing those functions together Maersk aims to reduce the information gaps that often emerge between transportation providers, warehouses and delivery networks.

Rather than managing multiple vendors independently, customers gain a more connected view of inventory, shipments and final delivery performance, enabling faster issue resolution and more proactive communication when disruptions occur.

Johnson said that end-to-end connection is becoming a market differentiator as consumers increasingly buy from overseas sellers and expect to track the full journey. “As we connect our systems from end to end in the supply chain, now there becomes that global visibility,” he said. “The customer’s anxiety is reduced the more visibility we give them.”

For many retailers and brands, the challenge is no longer simply moving products quickly. It is providing a consistent and predictable experience for end customers while managing growing complexity across sourcing, transportation, fulfillment and delivery.

As expectations for visibility continue to rise, supply chain leaders are increasingly evaluating how connected their logistics networks are from origin to final delivery. Shah tied that visibility directly to supply chain management.

“The more elements of a customer’s supply chain that we can manage, the more proactive we can be in communicating to both our customer and the end consumer.”

Johnson added that consistency is the goal regardless of geography: “We want to provide the same delivery experience in Seattle, Washington, that we do in Richmond, Virginia, and we can only do that by connecting every portion of that chain.” window. googletag = window. googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag.

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