Business, Freight News, Logistics

TAPA warns of post-corona crime wave

[ June 1, 2020   //   Chris ]

The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) is warning that there could be spike in cargo thefts as coronavirus lockdowns begin to be lifted across the Europe, Middle East and Africa.

With entire national populations being advised to stay at home since the beginning of March, cargo thieves have found it much more challenging to target goods in warehouses or on board trucks, however, TAPA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) has received reports of over 400 thefts of products from supply chains between 1 March-29 May 2020, valued at more than €16.4 million.

But with communities and businesses now starting to return to some kind of normal, TAPA president and chief executive for EMEA Thorsten Neumann expects to see a substantial rise in criminal activity.

He says: “Evidence shows offenders clearly like to disappear into the crowd but with fewer people and vehicles on the streets and roads, criminals-at-large have faced a much higher rate of detection. Subsequently, many have gone-to-ground over this period – but they have not gone away.”

With the crooks looking to make up for lost ‘income’ during this period, this is likely to result in much higher risks for the transport and logistics industry, with trucks remaining most vulnerable to attack.

With air and seafreight disrupted, many shipments are moving onunfamiliar routes and through different hubs and cross-docks where risks might not be fully known or assessed, and transit times are longer. Congestion at hubs is also generating risks, for example truck drivers often don’t have time to get to safe parking places because they waited so long to load, he added.

On 1 July TAPA is due to launch the latest revisions of its Facility Security Requirements (FSR) and Trucking Security Requirements (TSR) industry standards to protect goods being stored in warehouses and while in transit.

Tags: TAPA