Transportation Management Systems (TMS) in Poland: The Digital Backbone of a Thriving Logistics Hub

Poland stands at the heart of Europe, acting as a critical logistics hub connecting East and West. Over the past decade, Poland has invested significantly in scaling its warehousing, distribution, and freight infrastructure — contributing to become one of the most dynamic logistics markets in the European Union. With this exponential growth, the need for smarter, more agile, and digitally-driven transportation has become paramount. 

A transportation management system is emerging as a key A Transportation Management System (TMS) is emerging as a key enabler of this transformation, helping Polish businesses streamline transportation workflows, reduce costs, improve visibility, and stay compliant with evolving EU regulations.

Poland’s Logistics Landscape: An Evolving Powerhouse

Poland is currently ranked among the top five logistics markets in Europe, with logistics and transportation contributing significantly to its GDP. The country boasts:

• Over 300 logistics parks and highway infrastructure spanning 4,000+ km
  
• Proximity to major seaports like Gdańsk and Gdynia
  
• Strategic positioning along the TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network) corridors
  
• A rapidly expanding e-commerce market, projected to cross €25 billion by 2026

What is Transportation Management System

Transportation Management System is a digital solution that helps businesses effectively plan, execute, and optimize the movement of goods from one point to another point. It helps in managing end-to-end transportation lifecycle, order planning, and carrier selection. It acts as a centralized platform that automates workflows, integrates with existing systems, provides end-to-end visibility and controls every aspect of your supply chain.

Why is Transportation Management System necessary in Poland

1. Strategic Location and Transit Role: Poland’s position at the crossroads of Europe makes it a key transit hub for goods moving between Eastern and Western Europe, as well as along the Baltic-Adriatic and North Sea-Baltic corridors. Transportation Management System optimizes routing and freight consolidation and ensures seamless coordination across cross-border & domestic transport.
   
2. Dominance of Road Transport: Road transport accounts for nearly 87% of cargo movement in Poland, contributing 6% to the country’s GDP. Polish trucking companies handle a quarter of all road transport within the EU, with a fleet of 4.2 million units in 2022. A TMS is essential for optimizing route planning, reducing fuel consumption, and minimizing costs, especially given high fuel prices and the need to maintain competitiveness. It also helps manage compliance with EU regulations, such as driver hours of service and emissions standards, which are critical in Poland’s extensive road transport network.
   
3. Growing Logistics Market: Poland is one of Europe’s largest logistics markets. The country’s logistics sector is a key economic driver, and TMS helps the businesses to streamline operations, reduce administrative costs, and improve overall supply chain visibility. 
   
4. Enhancing Customer Expectations and Competitiveness: Poland is one of Europe’s largest e-commerce markets, with high demand for fast and reliable deliveries. TMS enables agile order fulfillment, same-day delivery, and omnichannel logistics. Customers expect transparency, dependability, and speed, particularly in terms of product availability and shipping. They also desire real-time visibility and flexible delivery options. TMS provides visibility and optimizes delivery schedules to meet these demands.
   
5. Addressing Infrastructure Challenges: Despite significant investments, Poland’s infrastructure still faces challenges, such as outdated roads in some regions and congestion at ports and airports. A TMS mitigates these issues by enabling dynamic route planning, real-time traffic updates, and efficient resource allocation, ensuring timely deliveries despite infrastructure limitations.

Key Benefits of a TMS for Polish Businesses

1. Optimized Route Planning and Cost Savings: By using advanced AI algorithms, it takes into account traffic conditions, delivery windows, and fuel consumption to help reduce cost and determine best routes. This is especially very critical in Poland, where cross-border shipping is frequent, and avoiding congestion on busy transport corridors can significantly lower costs.  
   
2. End-to-End Visibility Across Supply Chain: In the modern logistics landscape, real-time visibility is no longer a nice-to-have – but it’s a competitive necessity. With Europe’s supply chain growing more complex due to multiple borders, languages, and compliance regimes, having a clear and continuous view of goods in transit and inventory status is critical. What once was a backend operational feature is now a front-line driver of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and trust.
   
   TMS offers real time visibility which helps businesses provide more reliable delivery timelines and improves customer satisfaction and competitiveness. 
   
3. Regulatory Compliance Made Easy: Polish transporters need to comply with EU regulations such as the Mobility Package and CO2 emission targets. A TMS helps maintain digital documentation and audit trails. Moreover, Automated generation of compliance reports, safety documentation, and quality control checklists reduces the administrative burden and minimizes the risk of human errors.
   
4. Scalability for the Growing E-commerce Sector: According to forecasts by Statista, the Polish e-commerce market will grow from the current equivalent of EUR 21 billion to EUR 33.3 billion by 2029 – an annual increase of almost ten percent. A TMS supports this growth by automating dispatch, order allocation, and delivery orchestration—critical for high-volume, fast-paced order fulfillment environments.

Top 7 Features to look for in a Transportation Management Systems in Poland

1. Real-Time Shipment Visibility: In a market as dynamic and regulation-intensive as Poland, real-time visibility is no longer nice-to-have — it’s a competitive necessity. Poland customers—whether B2B or B2C, have grown accustomed to Amazon grade delivery experiences. They expect accurate ETAs, instant tracking updates, proactive notifications, and transparent returns. A TMS offers real-time tracking capabilities that allows logistics teams to monitor shipments as they move through each stage of the journey. Businesses can obtain accurate ETAs, reduce bling spots, and respond swiftly to any exceptions or delays.

2. Automated Route Optimization: Urban congestion and fuel costs makes route planning in Poland a critical challenge. A TMS with AI-driven route optimization takes into account traffic conditions, delivery windows, and fuel consumption to help reduce fuel cost and determine best routes – particularly important given rising fuel prices and new EU green logistics mandates. 

3. Carrier and Contract Management: Poland’s logistics industry is extremely fragmented, with thousands of small to mid-sized carriers operating regionally and internationally. TMS automates indent management by streamlining vendor allocation, rate contracts, and indent generation through a centralized digital platform. Additionally, it also facilitates handling multiple vendors effortlessly with automated rate contracts and performance tracking. 

4. Customer Communication and White-Label Tracking: Anyone who regularly shops online knows that the happiness that a ‘Your order is out for delivery’ message brings knows no bounds! Poland’s e-commerce market is booming and consumers are demanding real-time delivery updates and flexible fulfillment options. A TMS enables the businesses to offer branded tracking portals and automatically notifies the customers in case of delays or discrepancies. This is extremely crucial in the industry where logistics experience is a major brand differentiator—-particularly in competitive verticals like fashion, electronics, and home goods.

5. Return and Reverse Logistics Management: Returns are a core part of Polish retail and e-commerce, driven by EU-wide consumer protection laws allowing returns within 14 days. A TMS must facilitate efficient returns management – beginning from pickup request to warehouse returns – helping businesses improve customer satisfaction, save costs and improve sustainability. This feature of Transportation Management Systems is particularly valuable for omnichannel retailers and manufacturers dealing with warranty returns or part replacements across Poland and its neighboring markets.

6. Multi-Modal Transportation Planning: Poland is a gateway to Western Europe and a critical part of the EU’s trans-European transport network (TEN-T). Businesses here often rely on a mix of road freight, rail links to Germany and Ukraine, sea transport via Gdańsk and Gdynia ports, and even air cargo. A TMS that supports multi-modal planning enables companies to seamlessly switch between transport types based on route disruptions, cost, or urgency. This is especially useful given Poland’s growing role in facilitating east-west trade and supporting corridor-based exports.
   
7. Robust Analytics and Reporting: Data and Insights by the polish businesses to manage everything from delivery SLAs to fleet performance and carrier benchmarking. A TMS with analytics and reporting features allows companies to make better tactical and strategic decisions—especially when dealing with fluctuating demand, seasonal peaks, or expanding cross-border operations. It also provides insights on shipping costs, delivery times, carrier performance, and customer satisfaction, which can be used to identify areas for improvement and drive operational efficiencies.

Industries Benefiting from TMS in Poland

1. Retail and E-commerce: With a rising demand for same-day and next-day delivery, e-commerce companies need real-time orchestration and fulfillment visibility—both supported by TMS.
2. Manufacturing: Manufacturers generally rely on just-in-time delivery models. A TMS helps coordinate inbound logistics from component suppliers and manage outbound distribution to dealers. 
3. 3PL & Freight Forwarders: 3PLs use TMS platforms to manage multiple clients, allocate carriers efficiently, and automate performance–based SLAs and billing.     

How Shipsy’s TMS Supports Poland’s Logistics Ambitions

Shipsy’s AI-driven Transportation Management System empowers Polish businesses to digitalize their logistics operations end-to-end. Key features include: 

1. Multi-modal transportation management: Plan and track across road, rail, ocean, and air seamlessly.
   
2. AI-powered carrier allocation: Assign the best-suited carrier in real-time based on price, performance, and availability.
   
3. Real-time shipment visibility: From first to last mile delivery, reduce blind spots with map-based live tracking.
   
4. Automated Indent Management: Streamline vendor allocation, rate contracts, and indent generation through a centralized digital platform.
   
5. Multi-vendor Management: Handle multiple vendors effortlessly with automated rate contracts and performance tracking.
   
6. Localized compliance support: Easily manage and comply with Polish and EU regulations, including eCMR documentation. Moreover, Shipsy’s TMS facilitates automatic generation of compliance reports, safety documentation, and quality control checklists. This reduces the administrative burden and minimizes the risk of human errors.

Shipsy is empowering leading brands to increase customer Net Promoter Score by 27%, shrink last-mile delivery costs by 21%, improve first attempt deliveries by 8%, and ensure 90% on-time deliveries. Book a demo and explore how Shipsy can digitalize, scale, and future-proof Europe’s logistics operations.