Recorded cargo crimes in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region continue to show an alarming rate of growth, says an international supply chain security body.
Some 598 new freight losses were recorded in the second quarter of 2016, representing a 92.9 per cent increase year-on-year, according to the Transported Asset Protection Association’s (TAPA) Incident Information Service (IIS) database.
Of the new incidents reported to TAPA’s IIS for the three months to the end of June 2016, 43.1pc gave a loss value, producing a combined value for products stolen in these crimes of 19,334,815 euros and a significant rise on the 5,301,828 euros for the same three months in 2015. That second quarter of 2016 figure, when added to crimes with a value in the first quarter of this year, adds up to a loss of 27,314,438 euros of products in EMEA in the first six months of this year, based on crimes reported to IIS.
In that second quarter of 2016, TAPA says it recorded cargo losses in 18 countries in the EMEA region, including 21 major thefts involving a loss value of 100,000 euros or more. Most of these high value losses occurred in the UK, which accounted for eight of the total. Based on all crimes reporting a value, the average loss for cargo thefts in the quarter was 74,941 euros.
The biggest single loss reported to IIS in the quarter involved a violent Robbery of an HGV at a destination facility in Northamptonshire in the UK on April 15; and the theft of toys and games valued at 3,111,007 euros. This was one of three seven-figure losses in the three-month period. In the other incidents, thieves in Paris broke into a facility on 26 June and stole two safes containing 3m euros of luxury watches, while in April a million euros’ worth of hazelnuts were stolen from a warehouse facility in Piedmont, northern Italy.
TAPA’s intelligence on product thefts shows 91.4pc of all reported crimes in the second quarter of 2016 occurred in six countries: the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Russia and Italy. Overall, 47.5pc% or 284 of recorded crimes in the quarter took place in the UK, mostly in the east of England and the East Midlands. The 70.7pc of UK crimes that gave a loss value were worth a combined 11,149,590 euros.
TAPA, which also operates industry security standards for facilities and trucking, is now also looking at a new standard to increase the number and quality of secure parking locations, particularly around Europe. The second quarter data showed that 527 of the 598 new cargo crimes were thefts or attempted thefts involving trucks, with ‘theft from vehicle’ the most recorded type of incident in 315 or 52.7 per cent of cases. It also re-confirmed that most of losses take place when trucks stop at unsecured parking locations, often when drivers are required to take mandatory rest breaks. In the three months to the end of June 2016, TAPA EMEA was notified of 251 incidents at unsecured parking locations, 42pc of all crimes in this reporting period.
The use of violence or threat with violence was recorded in 26 or 4.3pc of incidents in the second quarter. There were also 21 cases of truck hijackings with ten of these having taken place in South Africa and six others in Italy. TAPA’s IIS also captured information on two incidents of theft from a moving vehicle, in the UK and Russia.
Data for the last quarter also continued to reinforce TAPA’s message that virtually all products, irrespective of their unit cost, are now at risk of theft from the supply chain. Food and drink products, the most stolen goods in the whole of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, were once again the IIS product category with the highest number of losses; 76 or 12.7pc of the Q2 total. TAPA makes the point that it is only too aware that the number of cargo crimes reported globally is still relatively few compared with the real number of incidents. This may be due to companies being reluctant to share incident data or law enforcers not having a dedicated category of cargo crime within their bigger general reporting areas of vehicle and property crime. Hence the association says it’s dangerous for companies to assume countries with a low number of reported cargo crime incidents to TAPA’s IIS present any less risk than countries that have reported more.
Overall, the TAPA Incident Information Services database received cases of losses in 18 separate product categories. Seven of these averaged at least one theft a week or more in the second quarter of 2016:
•Furniture/Household Appliances with 42 incidents or 7pc of the quarter’s total
•Clothing & Footwear – 34 or 5.7pc
•Cosmetics & Hygiene – 32 or 5.4pc
•Tools/Building Materials – 23 or 3.9pc
•Tobacco – 22 or 3.7pc
•Car Parts – 18 or 3pc; and
•Tyres – 14 or 2.3pc
TAPA also recorded losses of metal, pharmaceuticals, computers and laptops, toys and games, phones, sports equipment, cash, bicycles, agricultural materials, and jewellery and precious metals.
Thorsten Neumann, Chairman of TAPA EMEA, said: “These figures should be a great cause for concern for all manufacturers and logistics service providers because they clearly show the escalation of cargo crime. People wrongly assume that our crime data relates entirely to incidents suffered by TAPA EMEA members. In fact, very few of these losses were suffered by our members because of the risk management strategies they have put in place, including adoption of the TAPA Security Standards.
“The greatest risk is to the industry at large and, in particular, companies that have yet to fully recognise the issue of cargo crime. We are encouraged by the growing awareness of the problem among law enforcement agencies in the EMEA region, many of which now report incidents to TAPA’s IIS to help our members prevent such crimes happening to them. However, we also want to stress the importance of companies reporting cargo crimes to the police in the first place because this is another big challenge, particularly with cross-border shipments. It is important that all stake-holders work together and support each other.”
About TAPA
TAPA was formed in 1997; it has over 800 member companies globally, including many of the world’s biggest manufacturers and logistics service providers as well as SME freight forwarding and transport operators, and others. TAPA’s aim is to minimise cargo losses from the supply chain; it’s developed global security standards. Visit http://tapaemea.org.
