TAPA report finds three high value cargo thefts a day in Europe

Though largely unreported, attacks on the supply chain by organized criminal gangs are on the rise, according to a new report from the Transported Asset Protection Association.    There were three major cargo crimes a day on average targeting high value, theft-attractive products in the supply chain in Europe during 2014, according to a new report from the Transported Asset Protection Association.
   TAPA’s 2014 Incident Information Service annual report for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region recorded 1,102 incidents of cargo crime. Values were provided for a third of the crimes, and they totaled more than 74.8 million euros ($80.2 million).
   TAPA’s IIS received information on 157 ‘major’ incidents in 2014, classified as thefts involving a loss in excess of 100,000 euros and the top 10 cargo crimes in 2014 amounted to nearly half the total losses – 32.47 million euros.
   In a disturbing trend, the report said use of violence by organized criminal gangs grew 4.5 percent last year when compared to 2013, driven largely by 102 violent hijackings of trucks, notably in France, Italy and South Africa.
   Overall, there were 15 thefts from facilities and vehicles during the year with losses exceeding 1 million euros. Criminal gangs targeted everything from scratchcards, cosmetics, consumer electronics, and clothing and footwear to tobacco products, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, car parts and tires, and cash.
   Germany and the United Kingdom stood out as reporting the largest year-over-year increases in cargo theft. Germany recorded the highest number of freight crimes in 2014, with a 42.5 percent growth over 2013’s figures to 285 cargo thefts. With 175 cargo crimes, the UK saw the highest percentage growth among the top countries suffering incidents, climbing 98.8 percent compared to the previous year. The Netherlands, the main location for reported cargo crimes in 2013, saw a 9.7 percent drop over 2013 but still recorded 258 incidents overall.
   Thefts from vehicles continued to account for the biggest proportion of freight thefts, with over 500 crimes representing more than 45 percent of all incidents recorded in 2014. Over the course of the year, there were also 193 thefts from facilities such as warehouses and 185 theft of vehicles.
   Food and beverages were the most targeted cargoes across the region as a whole, closely followed by consumer electronics.
   TAPA’s analysis shows that 92.8 percent of the 1,102 cargo crimes in 2014 in the EMEA region took place in just 10 countries: Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Austria, Sweden and South Africa.
   The data collected by TAPA comes from its members, law enforcement agencies and credible media sources.
   Thorsten Neumann, chairman of TAPA EMEA, said of the report, “It is well-known that the majority of cargo crime still goes unreported and that is a situation industry has to change. In 2007, a European Parliament study on organized theft of commercial vehicles and their loads put the annual cost to business as 8.2 billion euros and attacks on the supply chain by organized criminal gangs have certainly increased since then. We also know that the true cost of loss, taking into account all of the factors that can result from a cargo crime, can be five times the cost of the actual stolen product.
   “We know that organized gangs of cargo criminals are operating across our region, particularly within Europe, and we can clearly see that they are becoming more daring and sophisticated in the way they target goods moving in the supply chain,” Neumann added. “These are not always products with a high individual unit cost. They might just as easily be a high volume of lower cost goods that can easily be traded on the black market. Nonetheless, we are encouraged by the response from law enforcement agencies across the region, and by government ministries and the European Commission, which all recognize that this is a growing trend causing a significant economic threat and it must be addressed.”