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SECURITY ESCORTS
transport companies planners, the principal and, where necessary, law enforcement, will only increase.
From the perspective of the escort
• The first job of the security escort is to verify all available information before the start of the transport, such as the route, the licence plates of the truck/trailer, the name of the truck driver etc. and to report these directly to the control room. That means the control room can immediately contact the client, if necessary;
• During the transport, security escorts observe anything that might seem out of the ordinary. In case of special events or circumstances, they will immediately contact the control room to take preparatory measures, such as an escalation to the local police
• The escorts also draft a comprehensive report mentioning all kinds of aspects like the route, stops etc. These are all items that can contribute to even better preparation and procedures for future transports.
From the perspective of the control room
In the case of our own business, the majority of the more than 10,000 monitored shipments we manage each month are monitored for quality reasons. Did the truck arrive at the loading point in time? Was there any delay in loading? Does the information about the cargo, truck and driver correspond with what has been notified beforehand? Is the truck TAPA TSR certified? Was a trained driver deployed? etc. All kinds of things that constitute valuable information for clients, next to security, and can also serve as KPIs for all stakeholders.
But, of course, a high number of truck movements are escorted and monitored for security reasons. In case of an anomaly, for instance deviation from the agreed route, an unforeseen stop, panic alert or trailer door alarm, our certified control room immediately escalates according to protocols agreed with the customer beforehand. Your escort supplier must have the right permits to be able
to escort vehicles, not only on the national territory but across borders as well, and the control room must hold the right international permit enabling them to contact and direct foreign police services. Another important aspect is that the escort supplier should have a pan-European network of local police and security contacts that can act immediately and according to the local laws and regulations in case of a potential threat or an actual incident.
As far as formalities are concerned, in Europe, more and more certification is now required, so enhanced communication with local authorities and law enforcement agencies is another condition that becomes ever more important. For instance, in Amsterdam Schiphol and London Heathrow, it is mandatory to report the use of escorting services beforehand to the police. In the case of providing escorts of the Covid-19 vaccines, we were required to contact and make security arrangements in more than 20 countries to get the permissions we needed, and to ensure support from the local law enforcement agencies. This explains why the early days of truck escorting - involving ordering an escort from a random service provider, who engages his unemployed neighbour, provides him with a third-hand VW Polo, and has him escort a truck - have become a thing of the past for supply chain security and resilience professionals.
Like everything else in the world of security, you cannot stand still or ever become complacent. There are always new risks to manage. One criminal M.O. is the ‘inconspicuous’ delaying or hindering of the security escort, causing the distance between the truck and the escort team to grow, to improve the offenders’ chances of success.
More technical solutions will continue to be adopted to enhance the security escort process, like the monitoring of the escorted truck by the escort themselves. Monitoring by the control room, as well as its role as intermediary between escort, truck drivers, the
Ultimately, your security choices will always be based on risk to the type of cargo, the volume and value of your shipment, and the route it is taking. A trailer with a cargo of €15 million of pharma products could travel through country ‘X’ without monitoring or escorting, and, at the same time, another pharma product from the same manufacturer worth €4 million might be followed by a double and armed escort because of the region it is transiting and the known level of threat.
Over 20 years ago, when we were first asked about providing security for a truck, we said to ourselves, perhaps naively at the time: ‘Security for a truck? It’s not like we live in the Wild West!’
But, as supply chain security specialists know only too well, transporting goods across Europe can sometimes feel like the ‘Wild West’ when you truly understand the scale and complexity of the criminal threat. For those businesses with most to lose, it is especially reassuring to know they have a security escort right behind them.
Jaco van den Berg is a founder and Managing Director of The Cargo Security. Company, which supplies qualified and certified security officers to provide armed
and unarmed cargo security escorts for global manufacturers, logistics providers, freight carriers, governmental agencies, and other stakeholders, with the common aim of reducing losses from international supply chains. Its vehicles used for secure operations are fitted with professional tracking systems, panic button and live streaming cameras, ensuring they can be monitored in real-time from the company’s in-house ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and EN 50518/UL 827 certified Alarm Monitoring Center (AMC), whilst they are in transit.
www.thecargosecurity.company
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