TAPA IIS INTELLIGENCE


17


AFTER A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR OF CARGO LOSSES IN 2018, THE NEW YEAR KICKED OFF WITH A 68.7% YEAR-ON-YEAR GROWTH IN CRIME AT A COST OF MORE THAN €10.7M


The fact that TAPA EMEA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) has just confirmed that the number of recorded cargo crimes in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region in 2018 was the highest in the Association’s 21-year history only makes the IIS statistics for January 2019 even more ominous for supply chain security executives.


This year began with 302 newly-reported cargo thefts to TAPA’s IIS in the 31 days of January – a 68.7% growth over the same month a year ago.


The 214 or 70.8% of these crimes stating a value produced a total loss of €10,797,475, averaging a cost per crime of €50,455.


14 of the 302 incidents were recorded as major cargo thefts with losses of €100,000 or more. Overall, these accounted for €5,436,176 of the January loss total – resulting in an average per crime of €388,298. In the €50,000-€100,000 loss range, TAPA EMEA received incident intelligence on a further 27 thefts from supply chains in the region with a combined loss of €1,782,379 or an average of €66,014.


As if the numbers were not a big enough cause for alarm, the highest loss last month was also a reminder of the length criminals are prepared to go to when they have a target in sight.


On 2 January, four offenders armed with an automatic weapon used a truck to close a section of highway in Melito di Porto Salvo in Italy’s Calabria region. As the cash-in-transit vehicle they were targeting approached the location, the occupants were threatened at gunpoint and forced to leave the vehicle. The criminals then used two bulldozers to smash open the armoured vehicle’s strongbox before making their escape with €2,300,000 in cash.


The other major losses in the month were: €437,255


The theft of a shipment of shoes from a vehicle in Batley, West Yorkshire, UK, on 4 January after thieves cut the locks and seals on a truck parked on an industrial estate.


€434,810


Possibly a separate report of the incident mention previously, this crime on 4 January involved the loss of thousands of pairs of cricket shoes from the back of a lorry in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. The goods, newly-arrived from China, were stolen in the early hours of the morning.


€421,187


In Skelmersdale, Lancashire in the UK, on 7 January, offenders stole a trailer loaded with confectionary after entering a secured haulage yard in a tractor unit.


€421,187


This Theft from Vehicle crime resulted in the loss of fashion clothing from an HGV and semi-trailer left in an unsecured parking location on an industrial estate in Leicester in the UK. The thieves cut the tarpaulin curtain of the trailer to reach the goods inside on 7 January.


€280,791


Miscellaneous goods – including furniture and craft materials – were loaded onboard a trailer stolen from a secured compound in Birmingham, West Midlands, UK, on 5 January. The thieves entered the site in a tractor unit and proceeded to steal another tractor as well as three shipping containers on trailers.


CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 > €199,749


Three parked and unattended HGVs and semi-trailers with no loads onboard were taken on 27 January from a secured parking place in Skelmersdale, West Yorkshire, the second major incident in this vicinity during the month.


€171,214


Unspecified goods were also recorded stolen from a secured parking location in Skelmersdale on 27 January, possibly another report linked to the incident previously listed.


€165,507


38 pallets of wine stolen after thieves took a loaded HGV from a secured haulage yard in Dudley, West Midlands, UK, on 27 January.


€156,090


Footwear taken from a vehicle parked at Chieveley Motorway Service Area in Berkshire, UK, on 16 January, after offenders cut open the tarpaulin side of the vehicle.


€127,839


IT goods stolen in a Theft from Vehicle incident at Newport Pagnell MSA in Milton Keynes, UK, on 17 January after the locks and seals of a container were cut.


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