Cargo crime wave driving logistics companies into TAPA’s arms

The growing threat of cargo crime across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region has led to a record take-up of the Transported Asset Protection Association’s (TAPA) supply chain security standards. TAPA says demand for its Facility Security Requirements (FSR) certifications rose 16.6 percent, while the number of companies with its Trucking Security Requirements (TSR) certifications rose 41.5 percent in the last year.

Rising demand for freight services has attracted the attention of sophisticated criminals, increased insider threats, and raised the stakes for the good guys and the bad guys alike, prompting an industry-wide soul searching.

Earlier this year, TAPA warned of, “an ominous start to 2018,” as losses rose 18.5 percent year over year for the month of January across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. During the month, some of the more brazen heists included two trailers loaded with 44 tonnes of chocolate, worth €400,000, stolen in the German town of Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, and €567,830 worth of handbags swiped from a truck in Milton Keynes, U.K.

Newly-released data from TAPA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) for 2017 shows a 10.3 percent rise in recorded cargo crimes in the EMEA region, with a total of 2,880 incidents. Even though only 58.6 percent of these theft reports provided a value, the total loss for these crimes alone exceeded €105 million last year, suggesting the total cost of these crimes is around one billion euros.