welcome 2 IN THE CHAIR THERE’S A LOT OF DATA OUT THERE - BRING IT HOME


There’s a lot of cargo crime data in this month’s Vigilant and it comes from a variety of sources.


This is all important intelligence that substantiates the need for the work our members do to protect the security of goods moving within global supply chains. When you try to put forward a convincing case for any level of investment, recognition or collaboration to support supply chain resilience programmes, one of the first questions we expect to be asked is ‘how big’s the problem?’ Cargo crime data offers the potential to deliver a strong, tangible and, hopefully, compelling response which takes such conversations onto the next level.


We do have big numbers for cargo crime. For example, in EMEA, our new Cargo Theft Annual Report shares data on incidents involving €172 million of products in just the 366 days of 2020. But this is still likely to represent only the opening chapter of the full story of cargo crime in our region. It is 14 years since the now famous European Parliament study estimated that cargo crime in Europe alone cost businesses €8.2 billion a year. So, that’s an €8bn gap to begin with – and who thinks losses from supply chains in Europe have fallen since 2007?!


Imagine if all this cargo loss intelligence could be captured within a single resource, notably TAPA’s Incident Information Service? How powerful a voice would this give us to get governments, for example, to acknowledge the security challenges Manufacturers/ Shippers and Logistics Service Providers face, and the potential impact of cargo crime on national economies.


We are a very long way away from that happening but in all three TAPA regions, the drive to source quality and quantity of cargo loss intelligence is not only ongoing, it is gathering pace. Every new incident report TAPA’s IIS receives, and every Law Enforcement Agency or other data provider that chooses to share crime statistics with us, is another step on this journey. This is not just a topic for conversation, it must be supported by action.


In his great article in this issue discussing global port congestion, Pete Mento reminds us that this is not a new phenomenon. Congestion at ports has been around for decades – partly because there’s not enough money or votes for politicians in solving some very significant infrastructure issues. He makes a fair point. Often, we all know what the issues are – and we can put forward some very sound suggestions for fixing them, but unless all the key stakeholders are onboard and aligned, we are highly likely, years later, to still be having


‘It is impossible to think we can gather information on every cargo crime but if more people in our Association are ready to make a contribution to growing our IIS intelligence database, we can make a quantum leap from where we are today.’


the same conversations whenever disruptions in one form or another come our way.


In comparison to port congestion, fixing issues around the gathering and centralising of cargo crime data seems a far more straightforward and achievable target. It is impossible to think we can gather information on every cargo crime but if more people in our Association are ready to make a contribution to growing our IIS intelligence database, we can make a quantum leap from where we are today.


Look at the intelligence in this issue for EMEA, Russia and Brazil. Is this not important to us in our day jobs if our roles involve ensuring the resilience of supply chains in these markets? This information exists because we already have some valuable data sources working with us. Who else is out there that we should be building relationships with? As awareness of TAPA grows around the world, and as our global membership reaches new heights, we have never been in a stronger position to leverage more data. Let’s all see what we can do.


MARCEL SAARLOOS Chair, TAPA EMEA


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28