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NEWS


Many operators of secure parking in Europe are struggling to make a living, warned a security expert. Luc Van Herck, director of the Transported Assets Protection Association (TAPA) said some operations were seeing only a handful of trucks a day and even the more successful ones were running at well below capacity, with perhaps 30 out of 150 spaces used at any one time. “It is a case of use it or lose it,”


he told the TAPA conference in Brighton on 18 June. “In some cases the land is worth worth more than the value of the operation,” he said. He suggested that EU funding


Cargo criminals get off lightly


One of the biggest obstacles the freight industry faces is getting politicians and police forces to take cargo crime seriously, says TAPA’s EMEA region chairman, Thorsten Neumann. He told the TAPA Q2 2010 conference in Brighton on 17 June that penalties for cargo theft were often very low. He told FBJ that the criminal


community was aware of this, and that many had now turned to stealing freight rather than cash precisely because the penalties were so light. “If you are an armed rubber


and you’re caught, you go to jail. If you’re involved in cargo crime and you don’t use a weapon, the punishment is very much less.” The authorities often seem


to see such thefts as so-called victimless crimes. However it should be remembered that


the proceeds from major heists was often used by criminals to fund other illegal activities such as drug dealing or people of trafficking, many of which were definitely on the politicians’ radar. He also highlighted to the


conference the anomaly that cash in transit vehicles carrying perhaps €0.5m routinely carried three armed guards, whereas truckloads of trainers, mobile phones or pharmaceuticals worth anything up to €30m were sent on the road with just one unarmed driver. As one delegate said, “would


you store £1m-worth of goods in a warehouse made out of canvas, no fence, unlocked doors and a security guard who’s allowed to go to sleep?” Thorsten Neumann. added


that stolen goods were rarely sold on in the countries where


they were taken, but might end up in Africa or India. “The criminals’ supply chains are every bit as good as our own.” The UK remains one of


Europe’s – and the world’s – cargo theft hotspots, with the highest number of individual incidents. However, Operation Grafton


had succeeded in slashing the number of incidents in the Heathrow area by 90% and relationships with local police forces was very good – in contrast with most other countries in Europe. Cost pressures on the


logistics industry had had some unexpected consequences, added Thorsten Neumann. “The move from air to sea has increased risks, for instance, and we’ve already had cases of entire containerloads of cargo disappearing in Europe.”


might be necessary to put the secure parking industry on a firmer footing. TAPA EMEA chairman Thorsten Neumann said that it was difficult to persuade companies of the added-value benefits of secure parking. “The margins in logistics are such that it can be difficult to persuade them to spend even €20 on a night’s parking.” However, he was convinced that in time, the industry would see the benefits. More encouragingly, Luc Van


Herck said that the Belgian Government plans to introduce a proposal on secure parking standards when it assumes the EU presidency in July. “We fully


Thorsten Neumann


support this, as standards are currently very inconsistent across Europe,” he added.


ISSUE 2 2010 Secure truck parking – use it or lose it For its own part, TAPA has


added a dedicated parking page to its website and has upgraded the quantity and quality of its information. Companies also need to be


certain that drivers really were using secure parking facilities. Some might still be parking on the street and claiming for the parking charge and receipts were sometimes falsified. The conference was shown a slide of a secure parking site in Mexico that was almost empty, whereas the nearby main street was littered with parked wagons. Drivers preferred to park on the main street, close to the bars and other attractions of the town.


FTA Ireland aims to drive up standards in logistics industry


The Freight Transport Association plans to push up quality standards in Irish logistics by setting up FTA Ireland (FTAI). Founding members of the new association, officially launched at a ceremony at Dublin Castle on 30 June, include some of the largest operators such as DHL, Wincanton, Eddie Stobart and O’Reilly Transport. A new policy manager should be appointed


and offices in or near Dublin set up by 1 September, said FTA general manager Chris Welsh, who is responsible for establishing FTAI. “The quality part of the industry wants to raise standards and with the introduction of full operator licensing in Ireland, we want to raise the profile and image of an industry which, perhaps unfairly, has suffered from a poor reputation in Ireland.” The impetus for the new organisation had


come from within the logistics industry itself, he stressed. FTAI will replicate the services that FTA provides for its UK members and will be able to


draw on the resources of the wider organisation in areas such as training, information services or publications. “We won’t have to start from scratch,” explained Chris Welsh. However, FTAI will also provide an autonomous voice for the industry in Ireland and will develop its own channels of communication with the Irish Government and other agencies. Chris Welsh added that other major issues included freight in central Dublin and a strategic freight plan for the city, access to ports and airports, congestion on the Irish trunk road network and enforcement of safety standards. He was confident that FTAI would be able to


work harmoniously with other organisations, including the Irish Road Haulage Association (which represents mainly small operators) and the Irish Exporter’s Association. FTA already has a Northern Ireland office in Belfast which has already been actively involved in cross-border issues such as the All-Ireland Freight Strategy.


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