TAPA report: UK has worst recorded cargo theft rate in the EMEA region

Of the 26 countries recording new cargo thefts in TAPA’s IIS database in March and April, the top five were the UK, followed by Germany, South Africa Russia and Hungary. The amount of incidents recorded in the UK (76) was more than double that of South Africa (31).

In over 50% of loss reports in March and April (from all the 26 countries), the types of products stolen were either unspecified or recorded as miscellaneous. The 18 IIS product categories suffering incidents included five with double-digit losses:

• Tobacco – 22 or 8.0% of the March/April total
• Food & Drink – 19 or 6.9%
• Clothing & Footwear – 14 or 5.1%
• Tools/Building Materials – 12 or 4.4%
• Furniture/Household Appliances – 10 or 3.6%

Theft from Vehicle was the most recorded type of incident, with 84 incidents or 30.7% of the total. It was one of 10 incident categories with losses, which also included:

• Theft – 57 or 20.9%
• Robbery –23 or 8.4%
• Theft from Facility – 21 or 7.7%
• Fraud – 17 or 6.2%
• Theft of Vehicle – 15 or 5.5%
• Hijacking – 15 or 5.5%
• Theft of Trailer – 14 or 5.1%
• Theft from Trailer – 14 or 5.1%
• Clandestine – 11 or 4.0%

The top five types of locations for March/April losses – excluding the 127 crimes where the locations were unknown – were:

• Unclassified Parking Location – 75 or 27.4%
• En Route – 22 or 8.0%
• Destination Facility – 22 or 8.0%
• Services 3rd Party Facility – 18 or 6.6%
• Maritime Transportation Facility – 5 or 1.7%

When it comes to the methods used to carry out the cargo thefts, cutting holes in truck tarpaulins and breaking open the rear door locks of vehicles accounted for over half of the two-month total. Violence & threats of violence was reported in 10.6% of incidents.

TAPA also states that improving weather conditions appear to be increasing the number of cases involving migrants being discovered onboard trucks as they attempt to cross borders.

The full report can be accessed here.

Photo credit: Durham Police