FEaTuRE Risk
Avoiding risks
on the Road
By Monica Liau
H
ighway banditry the tarpaulin, and find the valuable cargo. geted by highway robbery.
has been a prob- Oftentimes truck drivers know it’s happen- However, Tijn Van Amelsfoort, who
lem in China for ing but can do nothing to stop it. helped launch the Transported Asset Pro-
as long as people Despite these dramatic scenes that lead to tection Association (TAPA) Asia Incident
have moved goods down the dusty roads of loss of inventory and revenue, there remains Information Service in November 2009, has
the country. In the early 1100’s, the legend- a degree of debate as to whether highway recorded several proven highway banditry
ary Song Jiang and his crew of 36 bandits banditry is a significant threat to all carriers cases that have happened around the country.
were the scourge of northern China and the everywhere in China. Dow Chemical, who “So far over 20 recent major incidents have
bane of carriers everywhere. The story of his manufactures almost all of its thousands been reported to us, with total losses equal-
career and his eventual surrender to the gov- of chemicals in China, says they have not ing over US$1.5 million,” he says. “While our
ernment is the stuff of legend. experienced any sort of highway robbery at data is still preliminary, China definitely has
Today, modern incarnations of SongJiang all when shipping goods here. In fact, Dow the highest number of incidents right now
are striking on the asphalt highways that con- says it has more as compared to the
nect China to international ports. According problems with rest of Asia.” The
to Sam Chao of McClarens, these thieves banditry in Guangdong-Jiangxi
usually make their hits at night with a gang of Southeast Asia. and the Beijing
two or three vehicles. One blocks the truck Nivea, which - Zhuhai express-
in front by driving at very low speed while transports mid- ways’ combined
another tails the back of the quarry. With the priced cosmet- losses alone exceed-
ease that comes from nothing to lose, bur- ics across Chi- ed RMB 100 million
glars are able to take cargo loads of goods na, also declares (US$14.6 million) in
from moving trucks, leaving behind empty that they have the last two years.
pallets. They hook on, climb over, cut open never been tar- Differing opinions
www.chainaonline.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 37
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