Sensitech: EMEA cargo theft reports rise 41% over Q3 2016

Sensitech Inc.’s Supply Chain Intelligence Center recorded a total of 800 cargo theft incidents in the third quarter of this year, versus 547 in third quart 2016.    The number of cargo theft incidents in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) rose by 41 percent in quarter three of this year over the third quarter of 2016, according to a newly-released analysis by Sensitech Inc., the Prague-based supply chain intelligence firm formerly known as FreightWatch Intl.
   Sensitech’s Supply Chain Intelligence Center (SCIC) recorded a total of 800 incidents in the previous quarter, versus 547 in Q3 2016. However, the SCIC said it expects that number to rise significantly, since not all relevant data was available at the time the report was released on Dec. 6.
   “When making a year on year comparison, it becomes clear that unlike Q3 2016, each month showed an increase in the number of incidents in Q3 2017; most incidents occurred in September 2017, where 319 incidents have been recorded,” the SCIC said in a statement.
   The top five countries where the highest number of incidents were recorded last quarter were, in order: The United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, South Africa and France.
   A total of 303 incidents were recorded in the U.K., significantly more than Q3 2016’s 88 incidents; Germany recorded 223 incidents, a significant increase over Q3 2016’s 39 incidents, something the SCIC is attributable to better data collection in the country, rather than an increase in crime.
   The Netherlands had the third highest number recorded in Q3 2017 with 106 incidents, which was somewhat less than Q3 2016’s 151 incidents. Fourth place South Africa had a reported 60 incidents of cargo theft, while last country in the top five list, France, had just 36 incidents reported, according to the SCIC. In Q3 2016 it shared seventh place with South Africa and Russia with just 8 recorded incidents.
   However, the SCIC said it expects to see some changes in this top five since data from Belgium and Sweden weren’t yet available at the time the report was compiled. During Q3 2016, Belgium took the top ranking with 192 incidents.
   Of the 800 incidents recorded by SCIC, only 394 had a value of the stolen goods mentioned, just 49.2 percent of the grand total. This brings the total value of incidents in which value was recorded to 23,699,821 euros (U.S. $28 million), which gives an average incident value of EUR 60,152, or almost $71,000.
   The largest amount reported stolen in a single incident was a theft of EUR 4,000,000, equivalent to over $4.7 million. The theft occurred when a man claiming to be a delivery driver arrived at a transport company in the cargo area of Charles de Gaulle Airport in Val-d’Oise, France with false documentation and was given twenty pallets of high value smartphones worth EUR 4,000,000.
   The transport company said it only realized that a theft had occurred when the real driver showed up a short time later.