Cargo crime still a constant threat to global supply chain: TT Club
FREIGHT insurance and risk management specialist TT Club has urged logistics operators and freight forwarders to maintain "robust due diligence procedures" to avoid becoming a victim of the ever-changing and increasingly challenging world of cargo crime, especially in managing their road freight operations.
TT Club said cargo theft continued to be a constant and evolving threat to the global supply chain, apparently often involving insider knowledge coming from within cargo owners, logistics providers, or their sub-contractors. And several new trends appeared to indicate the participation of some drivers in certain crimes, Lloyd's Loading List reported.
While billions of dollars of cargo are reported stolen each year, these statistics are drawn only from crimes that are reported, pointed out risk management director Peregrine Storrs-Fox. "Arguably, therefore, they are not truly representative of the scale of the problem," he warned.
He said many law enforcement agencies were under tighter budgeting constraints and "rarely engage actively in investigating cargo theft crime, resulting in perpetrators not being apprehended, and also a very incomplete picture of the freight crime horizon. This is a 'perfect storm', the consequences of which are of great concern to the integrity of the supply chain," Mr Storrs-Fox added.
The targeted cargo is often high value, specialist items such as computer components, sports equipment and copper cathode.
"Of the thousands of loaded trailers in transit at any one time, these shipments are clearly being singled out, with the perpetrators almost certainly having inside knowledge of the supply chain and pre-designated markets for the stolen goods," he noted.
"Furthermore, where significant volumes of cargo are stolen, planning is required, involving the use of large vans or trucks and the deployment of multiple personnel. Instances where outwardly unattractive freight which is in fact high value is targeted raise further concerns in respect of the flow of information through the supply chain, concluding that opportunism is being replaced by informed, low risk organised criminal activity."
TT Club said it had previously highlighted theft from various angles in the US and Europe particularly, including freight exchange internet sites and identity theft, which continue to be prevalent.
"However, while the targeted cargoes, routes and location of the thefts themselves remain varied and without pattern, there have been multiple cases in recent months where investigations have identified the driver concerned, whilst working for haulage operators all over Europe, to be of Romanian nationality," TT Club noted.
"Recent trends suggest that haulage operators and drivers from some Eastern European states offer their services at extremely low rates compared to industry averages. In the economic climate, such savings are inevitably attractive. There is however an old adage 'if it seems too good to be true, then it probably isn't."
FREIGHT insurance and risk management specialist TT Club has urged logistics operators and freight forwarders to maintain "robust due diligence procedures" to avoid becoming a victim of the ever-changing and increasingly challenging world of cargo crime, especially in managing their road freight operations.
TT Club said cargo theft continued to be a constant and evolving threat to the global supply chain, apparently often involving insider knowledge coming from within cargo owners, logistics providers, or their sub-contractors. And several new trends appeared to indicate the participation of some drivers in certain crimes, Lloyd's Loading List reported.
While billions of dollars of cargo are reported stolen each year, these statistics are drawn only from crimes that are reported, pointed out risk management director Peregrine Storrs-Fox. "Arguably, therefore, they are not truly representative of the scale of the problem," he warned.
He said many law enforcement agencies were under tighter budgeting constraints and "rarely engage actively in investigating cargo theft crime, resulting in perpetrators not being apprehended, and also a very incomplete picture of the freight crime horizon. This is a 'perfect storm', the consequences of which are of great concern to the integrity of the supply chain," Mr Storrs-Fox added.
The targeted cargo is often high value, specialist items such as computer components, sports equipment and copper cathode.
"Of the thousands of loaded trailers in transit at any one time, these shipments are clearly being singled out, with the perpetrators almost certainly having inside knowledge of the supply chain and pre-designated markets for the stolen goods," he noted.
"Furthermore, where significant volumes of cargo are stolen, planning is required, involving the use of large vans or trucks and the deployment of multiple personnel. Instances where outwardly unattractive freight which is in fact high value is targeted raise further concerns in respect of the flow of information through the supply chain, concluding that opportunism is being replaced by informed, low risk organised criminal activity."
TT Club said it had previously highlighted theft from various angles in the US and Europe particularly, including freight exchange internet sites and identity theft, which continue to be prevalent.
"However, while the targeted cargoes, routes and location of the thefts themselves remain varied and without pattern, there have been multiple cases in recent months where investigations have identified the driver concerned, whilst working for haulage operators all over Europe, to be of Romanian nationality," TT Club noted.
"Recent trends suggest that haulage operators and drivers from some Eastern European states offer their services at extremely low rates compared to industry averages. In the economic climate, such savings are inevitably attractive. There is however an old adage 'if it seems too good to be true, then it probably isn't."