What Benelux operators told us at Multimodaal Breda, and why it matters.

Demand is strong across the Benelux region. Rail-linked freight is growing. Inland terminals are handling more volume. Forwarders are moving more containers across more corridors than ever before.

And operators are struggling. Not because of the market. Because of the friction between their systems.

That was the consistent message at Multimodaal Breda. We heard it from forwarders. From inland terminal operators. From depot managers running complex, multi-site flows. The conversations were different. The problem was the same.

Good local systems. Poor coordination between them.

Transport planning runs in one platform. Yard operations in another. Commercial and invoicing processes somewhere else. Each system works well in isolation. Together, they create gaps — missed cut-offs, dwell time, invoice disputes, and decisions made without full visibility.

As Steve Collins, Managing Director at Fargo, put it: “Growth is no longer being limited by demand. It’s being limited by how well operators can coordinate between transport, terminals and data. That’s where most of the friction still sits.”

The scaling problem

Scaling an intermodal operation isn’t just a volume challenge. It’s a coordination challenge. Every additional partner, site or mode adds another handoff. Every handoff creates another opportunity for delay, error or cost.

Operators told us they can run their local piece well. The difficulty is connecting that local piece into a coherent operation across multiple sites and partners. Rail utilisation suffers. Yard turns slow. Invoices go out late, or wrong.

The result is what we call the messy middle mile. Execution lives in spreadsheets and inboxes rather than in systems designed for intermodal complexity.

What operators in Benelux are prioritising

At Breda, the conversations clustered around three themes:

Alignment between transport planning and terminal operations.

Operators running both road and rail-linked flows need transport and terminal systems that talk to each other. Separate platforms mean separate data — and decisions made without full context.

Visibility across partners and sites.

Forwarders coordinating across multiple carriers and depots need a single view of container status, not a patchwork of portal logins and status emails.

Commercial accuracy at scale.

As volumes grow, invoice errors and disputes compound. Operators want billing that reflects what actually happened — automatically, not through manual reconciliation.

What this tells us about the Benelux market

Benelux operators are not early in their digitisation journey. Many have invested in operational systems. The gap isn’t technology adoption, it’s integration depth. They have platforms. They need those platforms to work together.

That’s a different buying conversation. It isn’t about replacing what works. It’s about connecting it.

Fargo will continue discussions with Benelux-based operators over the coming months as part of our European expansion. If you’re running intermodal operations in the region and want to explore where the coordination gaps sit — we’d like to talk.