Global campaign launched to stop cargo theft

TAPA, the Transported Asset Protection Association, is starting a campaign to double the amount of TAPA-certified warehouses to more than 2,000 in Europe, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region in the next three years to curb cargo theft. Additionally, the organization wants more trucking companies to be in compliance with its security standards.

Established in 1997, TAPA was formed to fight the growing problem of cargo theft, which amounts to billions of dollars. Today, there are more than 800 member companies globally, including many of the world’s biggest manufacturers and logistics service providers, as well as leading small-to-medium freight forwarding and other stakeholders.

TAPA’s facility security requirements and trucking security requirements have been developed by supply chain security professionals and logistics specialists. Independently audited, they are widely respected as the leading security standards for the movement of high-value, theft-targeted goods. Many supplier contracts now demand compliance with TAPA standards.

The certification campaign also aims to build awareness for TAPA’s manufacturing members of the freight, logistics and transport companies that provide TAPA-certified facilities and trucking operations. TAPA is also looking to develop a new online tool that will allow manufacturers to find out if their transport and logistics service providers are TAPA certified.

The threat of cargo crime continues to increase across the globe. For example, TAPA EMEA’s incident information service recorded 1,102 cargo crime incidents in 2014. Only 33 percent of these thefts from the supply chain reported a loss figure, but the total value of these crimes alone was nearly US$75 million, producing an average loss per incident of $232,000. Data for the first half of 2015 rose 24 percent, year-on-year, with incidents recorded in 19 countries and average losses per crime of approximately $169,000.