FEaTuRE Risk
Bigger Numbers in India
When talking about highway robbery in
Asia, it is impossible not to spotlight
India’s problem, which may be greater
than the rest of Asia combined. India
recently discovered that in addition
to common banditry, highway check-
point policemen are taking bribes from
truckers. These bribes account for
over USD$4.5 billion annually. None
of the world’s 11 other trillion-dollar
economies, including China, face this
magnitude of police corruption.
and data begs the question; do these sensa- your firms products don’t fall under these inces at very high speeds. There is no na-
tional stories of highway robbery belie the categories John So, Director of Crisis and tionwide highway task force in China, so as
actual scope and amounts of risks that com- Risk Consulting for Control Risks Great- soon as get-away vehicles drive over district
panies who ship their good by truck take? er China, cautions against complacency. lines, they become the responsibility of the
“Armed highway robbery is definitely an in- another district.
Routes and Retail Value creasing concern for businesses in southern In spite of the fragmentation technol-
Central to the debate is the fact that certain China, especially those in apparel and medi- ogy has helped. A recent report by Xinhua
types of goods are in much higher demand cines,” he says. “However, in our experience, announced that a police force in Hubei re-
by bandits. While chemicals are considered banditry cases are certainly not restricted to cently recovered a hijacked truck with over
high risk products, the these sectors.” 251 boxes of Wuliangye brand liquor worth
ones that Dow ships Also potentially over RMB75 million (US$110 thousand) The
are generally too raw encouraging to stock was coming from Sichuan and was sto-
to be sold off imme- highway bandits is len on the Anhui expressway. Apparently, the
diately. “Dow chemi- China’s fragmented police force found these thieves due to posts
cal products are often police force, which that people had put up online. The introduc-
intermediate chemicals helps determine tion of CCTV cameras on highways has also
that have very limited certain hotspots for changed the way bandits steal goods. “With
use until converted to robbery. Some of CCTV cameras along highways, it’s really dif-
its final form,” says Jane
Tijn Van Amelsfoort
the biggest highway ficult for bandits to make off with an entire
Zhang, Logistics Lead- robbery hotspots truck,” say Chao. “But obviously cameras
er for Dow in North in China include can only do so much.”
China. “This means our
So far over 20
the Jinzhu, Ganyue, Another reason that instances of theft may
products are not well Beihai and Shaanxi be going up could simply be because highway
received by robbers.” recent major expressways as well robbery is seasonal and cyclical. The months
Items that can be
incidents
as the Nanhai clo- leading up to Chinese New Year, when both
easily resold immedi- verleaf. The fact consumerism and desperation are at a peak,
ately in markets or on
have been
that most of these are always times when robbery and instances
websites like Taobao,
reported
targeted areas cross of theft go up across the board. “These kinds
including foodstuffs,
to us, with
provincial and dis- of cases always happen close to Chinese new
apparel, medicine, scrap trict borders also year,” says Chao. “People need money to take
metal, and technology total losses mean that trucks back to their village in order to look after
like PC’s or cell-phones
equaling over
can travel though their families and they have to find some way
are especially vulner- several districts and to get money.”
able. However, even if
$24 million
even several prov-
38 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 www.chainaonline.com
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