FWI: Cargo theft skyrockets in EMEA region

A total of 1,970 cargo thefts were reported in Europe, the Middle East and Africa throughout 2015, 669 in the fourth quarter alone, year-over-year increases of 46 percent and 152 percent, respectively.    Reported cargo thefts in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region skyrocketed 46 percent year-over-year in 2015 to 1,970 reported incidents, according to the FreightWatch International Supply Chain Intelligence Center’s (FWI SCIC) EMEA Cargo Crime Intelligence Update report.
   FWI attributed the sharp increase in reported cargo thefts to the improvement in incident data collection, since an increasing number of European police forces have been sharing their data with FWI; and the continuous rise in criminal threats against supply chains in the EMEA region, especially in western Europe.
   For the full year, the most common form of reported cargo theft in the EMEA region was “pilferage,” theft from a truck/trailer, which accounted for 1,199 of the reported incidents.
   Unfortunately, cargo theft in the region became more violent in 2015, with truck hijackings totaling 200 reported incidents and truck robberies totaling 51 reported incidents, jumping 102 percent and 325 percent year-over-year, respectively.
   Reported truck hijackings were most prevalent in Italy, followed by South Africa, while reported truck robberies were most common in Germany, followed by France.
   In the fourth quarter alone, reported cargo thefts in the EMEA region reached 669 reported incidents, up 51 percent from the third quarter and 152 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014.
   Pilferage was the most common form of theft during the quarter, accounting for 458 of the reported incidents.
   The 10 countries in the EMEA region with the largest number of reported cargo thefts during the fourth quarter are as follows: Germany (169), Belgium (136), the Netherlands (108), the United Kingdom (93), France (43), Italy (31), South Africa (25), Spain (17), Sweden (13) and Austria (11).
   Electronics were the most stolen product type reported during the quarter, accounting for 105 of the reported incidents, followed by food and drinks with 76 reported incidents and auto and parts with 68 reported incidents.