Lower Saxony police have summed up the losses resulting from cargo theft. Most incidents involving so-called curtain slashers occurred along the A2 and A7 motorways near Hanover, where major transport routes intersect. Despite a decline in the number of reported offences, the economic scale of the damage has increased significantly, raising growing concerns within the transport industry. Last year in Lower Saxony, “curtain slashers” damaged or stole goods worth around €9 million.
This is the highest amount recorded so far, the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA) reported. By comparison, the total value of such losses in 2024 was €5.58 million in 2024 and €4.81 million in 2023.
Lower Saxony – a particularly high-risk region
According to the State Criminal Police Office (LKA), Lower Saxony is one of the most exposed regions in Germany. With seaports, key motorway corridors and numerous distribution centres, the area is an important transit and logistics hub.
DSLV Bundesverband Spedition und Logistik emphasises that the problem affects not only individual companies or specific groups of goods. Offenders are increasingly operating in an organised manner, often within international networks. Particularly at risk are high-value goods, electronics, food and industrial semi-finished products.
How do the “slashers” operate?
An example from the Schütz forwarding company in Langenhagen shows the scale of the threat. Each year, there are six to ten cases of trailer curtains being cut.
“First they only make a cut to see whether the semi-trailer is loaded and what’s inside. If the cargo is valuable, they remove it through the rear doors,” says Sebastian Henze, a forwarding manager quoted by the German news portal NDR.de.
Repairing one damaged curtain costs around €200, which easily adds up to more than €1,000 a year spent on restoring semi-trailers to usable condition.
The biggest losses at the company amounted to several tens of thousands of euros when thieves stole cable drums by sliding them down the rear beams of the semi-trailer.
The industry calls for more secure parking areas
Companies invest in reinforced curtains, GPS and other additional security measures, but this only limits the risk. Both the industry and the police stress the need for more monitored and guarded truck parking areas along the main transport corridors.
