Trucking industry fights back to curb rising cargo crimes in EMEA

Some 1,485 incidents of cargo crimes were recorded in Q2 2019 in EMEA with losses valued at over €21 million or a daily loss of €231,304, up 744.7% than the same period in 2018

Cargo crimes in EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa ) disturbingly increased in the second quarter of 2019 with 30 countries reporting incidents of theft, setting a new record high with major losses estimated at more than €21 million, reported the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) EMEA

In Q1 2019, TAPA EMEA said it also recorded an increase on cargo crimes in the region. Combined, Q1 and Q2 2019 registered 4,187 crimes, surpassing the 2018 total by 5.1% and shows a total value for incidents with for more than €55 million or an average of €305,605 per day.

Reports about other incidents continues, particularly in Africa. Just weeks after TAPA EMEA’s regional conference in South Africa highlighted the support the Association can offer to companies trying to increase the resilience of their supply chains, the The South African Police Service (SAPS) shared the country suffered nearly €18 million losses in cargo thefts just weeks after TAPA EMEA held its regional conference in Johannesburg.

The loot included high value jewelry worth over €17 million in Sandton , Gauteng province . According to media reports on the crime, the thieves forced their way into a luxury goods warehouse and overpowered the staff, destroying the building’s security doors in the process,before escaping with diamonds, earrings, necklaces and watches.

With the investigation ongoing, one of the key questions to be answered by police is why the facility’s CCTV cameras were reportedly not working at the time of the crime.

TAPA said five countries recorded double-digit losses in August:

• • France – 60 incidents
  • Netherlands – 48
  • South Africa – 17
  • United Kingdom – 16
  • Russia – 15

Over 50% of the goods stolen were recorded as either unspecified or miscellaneous but, of the 14 TAPA  IIS product categories suffering losses during the month, the top five were:

• Food & Drink – 18 losses
• Tobacco – 11
• No Load (Theft of truck and/or trailer) – 10
• Furniture/Household Appliances – 9
• Tools/Building Materials – 8

The majority of incidents involved cases of Theft from Vehicle, 112 crimes or 64.8% of the August total. Only two other types of incident recorded more than 10 crimes

Aligning secure parking standard with EU program TAPA says it will explore the benefits of aligning its Parking Security Requirements ( PSR ) industry standard wit h the European Commission’s new Safe & Secure Parking Places for Trucks program to establish a common solution to help tackle the biggest cause of rising cargo crimes in Europe.

The Association – the leading Security Expert Network for everyone in the supply chain – agreed to look for ‘a common understanding on the best way forward for secure parking’ at a conference in Rotterdam hosted by TAPA EMEA for Parking Place Operators (PPO) and also attended by a diverse group of supply chain industry stakeholders.

Delegates at TAPA’ s PPO conference in the Netherlands heard updates from the Association’s President & CEO, Thorsten Neumann and members of TAPA’s Standards Team as well as from Frederik Rasmussen, Deputy Head of Unit – DG MOVE, European Commission, and Ton Barten of Truck parkings Rotterdam, one of the PPOs already participating in the TAPA PSR program.

As a result of the proactive actions taken by TAPA and the EU, we now see a unique window of opportunity for a significant step change in secure parking in Europe. Our conference in Rotterdam was to test the feeling of industry on the best way forward and we all recognized the value of having one common standard for secure parking.

TAPA launched its Parking Security Requirements (PSR) 12 months ago, a tiered certification program for PPOs to help drive significant growth in the number of secure parking sites in Europe and the wider EMEA region. Designed by industry experts to meet the needs of manufacturers and logistics service providers, PSR also provides TAPA members with an online route planning tool to easily identify parking sites participating in the program, alongside cargo crime intelligence to map the level of risk along their intended routings.

TAPA’s database currently lists some 5,000 secure parking places in 10 countries in the EMEA region.

Similarly, the EU has listed secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles as one of its top priorities, having identified that truck operators and drivers in Europe are confronted with an insufficient number of parking facilities and often park in non-secured zones or unsafe locations, increasing the risk to driver safety as well as vehicle and cargo thefts.

Its ‘Safe & Secure Parking Places for Trucks’ study has now defined an action plan with a certification framework and funding opportunities to increase the overall number of safe parking places and to help optimize existing capacity.

The EC’s Safe & Secure Truck Parking Audit will be available later this year and offer a one-stop website for parking place owners, auditors and audit entities. The EU will share more information of its funding program at a conference in Brussels on 7 November.

Thorsten Neumann said: “As a result of the proactive actions taken by TAPA and the EU, we now see a unique window of opportunity for a significant step change in secure parking in Europe. Our conference in Rotterdam was to test the feeling of industry on the best way forward and we all recognized the value of having one common standard for secure parking.

“Having already collaborated with the European Commission study, we are keen to take this to the next stage and see how we can further leverage TAPA’s partnership with the EU to bring the most robust secure parking program across the continent.”

“We will continue to move forward with our own PSR Security Standard while our discussions with the EU continue but we can see a lot of common ground to align our respective programs and provide a solution to satisfy the high demand for all levels of secure truck parking. We are confident that by working together we can meet our shared goal of making supply chains safer and more resilient.”

Last year, TAPA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) recorded its highest-ever number of incidents involving criminal attacks on vehicles parked at 2,342 crimes in the EMEA region, accounting for 58.8% of incidents reported to the Association in 2018. This upward trend has escalated further in 2019, with half- year data showing a further 167.6% year-on-year rise in crimes in unsecured parking places.