TAPA received reports of 341 incidents, but estimated financial losses were provided for only a small proportion of them (20.8%). Just 71 of the cases resulted in confirmed material losses totalling €6 million.
“The daily loss from cargo crime reported to the TIS database in May amounted to €192,573,” TAPA stated.
The largest individual losses were recorded in France and Israel. On 16 May, cargo worth €2 million was stolen from a semi-trailer in Laon, northern France. On 5 May, a shipment valued at €1.96 million was taken by criminals in Haifa, Israel.
By comparison, May 2024 saw as many as 936 cargo theft incidents across 33 EMEA countries, with total reported losses exceeding €12 million.
Italy and Germany top the list
The highest number of thefts in May 2025 occurred in Germany (69), followed by Italy (62), the United Kingdom (38), Spain (35), the Netherlands (20), South Africa (19), France (18) and Greece (12).
One example of organised criminal activity was recorded on 23 May in Verona, Italy. Eighty boxes of men’s clothing worth €200,000 were stolen. The perpetrators disabled security systems, broke into a logistics facility and stole the keys to a van, which they then used to remove the goods. Although the vehicle was recovered, the cargo was never found. Three Romanian nationals were arrested, and GPS and CCTV footage enabled further investigation.
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Germany – a hotspot for rest area thefts
Several serious thefts were reported at motorway service areas in Germany in May 2025. On 5 May, electronics worth €100,000 were stolen from a lorry in Schmidgaden, Bavaria. Two days later, on 7 May, car parts of similar value were taken from a semi-trailer on the A93 in Lindenlohe. On 8 May, various goods worth €112,533 were stolen from a truck parked at a rest area in Lindenholzhausen.
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Cybercriminals impersonating haulage firms
Spain’s national transport federation, Fenadismer, has raised the alarm about a growing trend in the country: impersonation of legitimate carriers. According to TAPA data cited by Fenadismer, these types of scams now account for 1.5% of all reported cargo thefts across Europe.
“Criminals are using cyber techniques to impersonate hauliers, making it extremely difficult to trace them. They act with total impunity,” the federation warned.
Tactics include hacking into legitimate transport companies’ email accounts or creating addresses that closely resemble those of real firms. Using forged transport documents, the criminals are able to collect shipments directly from loading sites. In many cases, the theft is only discovered days later by the shipper.
