{"id":305643,"date":"2025-10-22T20:23:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T10:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=66820"},"modified":"2025-10-22T20:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T10:23:11","slug":"nearshoring-is-creating-new-supply-chain-networks-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=305643","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Nearshoring is creating new supply chain networks in Europe\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearshoring is really happening, according to John Manners-Bell, Chief Executive of Ti Insight and business professor at the London Metropolitan University. Deglobalisation is being driven by a whole host of factors, which is leading to the creation of new supply chain networks in Europe.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Speaking at Intermodal Europe 2025, Manners-Bell highlights Morocco as a country playing a central role in the process of nearshoring. The data is quite clear: the automotive industry now accounts for 25% of Moroccan GDP and employs 250,000 people. China\u2019s CITIC Dicastal built a 400 million dollar factory for aluminium cast parts, and the country is now the world\u2019s fourth largest exporter of tomatoes.<\/p>\n

For European companies, Morocco and other North African countries provide opportunities to reduce costs by moving production out of the EU. An added bonus is that it helps mitigate risks associated with China – Europe supply chains. Chinese companies have also caught on and do not want to miss out on the new trend, according to Manners-Bell. They too invest in North Africa so as not to lose out.<\/p>\n

With business operations moving into North Africa, Manners-Bell sees \u201ca sort of pan-Mediterranean network\u201d coming into being. Ro-Ro traffic between Morocco and Spain is up from around 8,000 tonnes in 2018 to some 12,500 tonnes in 2024. It peaked in 2022, with approximately 14,700 tonnes of freight exchanged via Ro-Ro connections. These connections are not just limited to Iberia, but also extend to France and Italy, making for the pan-Mediterranean network.<\/p>\n

For the time being, it seems that most of the growing Morocco-Iberia<\/strong> is conducted by truck (and shortsea, Ro-Ro). With Spain working on new rail highways<\/strong>, where trailers are loaded onto trains and transported over long distances, Moroccan-made products could also find their way into the European hinterland via rail in the future.<\/p>\n