Tackling the cargo crime threat

MAKE NO mistake, cargo crime losses throughout the supply chain are at an untenable level. According to the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) – a global not-for-profit industry Association founded to help supply chain operators address risk management – the UK is one of the most severely impacted countries for recorded cargo crime. 

Based upon the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System, which provides ‘live’ 24/7 reporting enabling its members to see and learn from actual cargo loss incidents, over £100,000 of goods are stolen from supply chains in Britain each day. Yet this figure represents only a partial picture, since the majority of cargo crimes go unreported. During the 18 months prior to 30 June 2022, only 12.4% of the 11,332 cargo thefts across the EMEA reported to TAPA stated a loss value; the rest remain unreported. 

Even so, latest figures for November 2022 reveal that, among the 42 countries in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region reporting incidents to TAPA, the UK was third highest in the list with 63 reported cargo crimes (behind Germany with 112 and Spain with 72). Along with Italy and France, these five countries accounted for 79.9% of all recorded EMEA crime over the 30 days of that month.

Need for change

Reliable and resilient supply chains play a vital role in protecting client relationships, brand reputations and helping to gain new business in a challenging environment. 

From 1st January 2020 to 30 June 2022, 5,751 theft incidents from supply chains were reported to TAPA EMEA in the UK. Of those which stated a financial loss value, 50% of these crimes reported a loss of over £100m. The breadth of affected products is significant with those most frequently stolen including pharmaceuticals, tools and building materials as well as toys, tobacco, IT equipment, phones, car parts, metal and household appliances, as measured by TAPA’s latest survey. These incidents occur through thefts of and from vehicles, trailers, containers and facilities in road, rail, aviation and maritime transportation.

Supply chains are seen as soft and lucrative targets, with attacks becoming smarter and increasingly sophisticated. Many crimes are aided by a simple lack of due diligence and, with its mission to minimise cargo losses, TAPA believes greater resilience can be built into supplier networks to reduce cargo thefts with wider use of best practice solutions.

Tackling the problem

This best practice is embodied in TAPA EMEA’s three primary Standards: Facility Security, Trucking Security and Secure Parking, for which the National Security Inspectorate (NSI) is now a TAPA regional Independent Audit Body. As a similarly not-for-profit organisation, NSI’s fully trained auditors work with TAPA members – comprising manufacturers/shippers, logistics service providers, freight transport and security services companies – to support the adoption and growth of TAPA standards and minimise the high value of products stolen during their storage in facilities or transportation.

Facility security

Warehousing and distribution is a vital part of the UK economy, with its contribution of over £120 billion in gross added value making it the country’s fifth largest employer. These busy sites contain high volumes of stock and are frequented by a variety of people 24/7. The importance of this sector, as well as the potential for security threats, highlights the need for effective measures to protect against potential risks.

TAPA EMEA’s Facility Security Requirements (FSR) protect high value and theft-targeted products in environments such as warehouse operations, in-transit storage within supply chains and distribution centres. The FSR Standard specifies minimum acceptable security standards and processes to be used in maintaining this standard, including specifications for service providers to follow in order to attain TAPA FSR certification for one or more facilities.

The Standard includes guidance on areas including the facility’s perimeter, such as access points, and internal areas within warehouses and offices. FSR certification can be achieved through NSI for both single site and multi-site. Three levels of Certification are on offer as well as a self-certification option.  Non-member companies may also achieve certification after completing the appropriate TAPA EMEA training course and paying the relevant training, auditing and certification fees.

Trucking security

Over 90% of cargo losses reported to TAPA EMEA involve criminal attacks on vehicles and in the UK alone over 3,800 incidents of cargo crime were reported by TAPA members between August 2021 and August 2022. The Trucking Security Requirements (TSR) Standard protects products transported by road with the aim of preventing criminal attacks and ensuring the safety of drivers, vehicles and cargoes.  

The TSR Standard is applicable to operators of hard-sided trucks and trailers, rigid vans or fixed body trucks, sea container road transportations, and soft-sided trucks and trailers. It includes guidance on management support and responsibilities, tracking and tracing, on-route protocols, physical security, and driver security training.

Parking security

The third Standard, covering Parking Security Requirements, is already the most adopted industry standard for secure truck parking, currently covering sites in 15 countries, but demand far exceeds supply.  The prevalence of crimes involving trucks in the UK is exacerbated by the severe lack of secure parking.  This presents a significant business opportunity for ‘Parking Place Operators’ who meet the required levels of supply chain security.

In the 18 months to the end of June 2022 TAPA’s Intelligence System received 1,959 reports of product and/or vehicle thefts involving trucks in unclassified parking locations, notably parking places which offer no means to identify their security levels. This could be a quiet layby near a main road, or a kerbside of an industrial estate, at a motorway service station or even in a truck park which has no certifiable on-site security systems or processes. It is now thought that unsecured parking could feature in over 60% of cargo thefts in the EMEA region.

Crime trends

While organised crime groups are very active in cargo crime around the UK, across the EMEA region the Association is also seeing more crimes involving thefts of much smaller quantities of goods with lower values indicating a rise in opportunist thefts, the activities of small-time thieves or even more first-time offenders.

The evolving nature of cargo crime also includes significant growth in fraudulent pick-ups: drivers and vehicles using falsified identification and documentation. Offenders create fake profiles on online freight exchanges and bid low to ‘win’ shipment deliveries. Often, loads secured by thieves via online exchanges are then outsourced to legitimate transport providers. Once they collect the goods the thieves notify the innocent driver of a change of delivery address.

Last mile deliveries are also seeing growing criminal attacks, since criminals know drivers frequently leave their vehicles unattended and that smaller transport vehicles often have less security. 

Delivering a difference

NSI’s extensive expertise of auditing organisations against standards will help deliver TAPA’s declared aim of driving more certifications and improving the security of transported supply chains across the UK. 

Sharing a common not-for-profit remit with TAPA, NSI is bringing its experienced auditors’ skillsets to bear in helping to cost-effectively tackle the unacceptable level and value of cargo thefts. We eagerly anticipate playing a pivotal role in securing supply chain resilience within the UK.

Matthew Holliday, director of approval schemes, National Security Inspectorate

For more information, visit www.nsi.org.uk