Cargo crimes in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region continue to spiral ever higher with the 598 new freight losses recorded in the second quarter (Q2) of 2016 representing a 92.9 per cent increase year-on-year, according to the Transported Asset Protection Association’s (TAPA) Incident Information Service (IIS) database.

Of the new incidents reported to TAPA’s IIS for the three months ended 30 June 2016, 43.1 per cent gave a loss value, producing a combined value for products stolen in these crimes of 19,334,815 euros and a significant rise on the 5,301,828 euros for the same period in 2015.

The Q2 2016 figure, when added to crimes with a value in Q1 of this year, adds up to a loss of 27,314,438 million euros of products in EMEA in the first six months of this year, based on crimes reported to IIS.

In Q2 2016, TAPA says it recorded cargo losses in 18 countries in the EMEA region, including 21 major thefts involving a loss value of 100,000 euros or more. Most of these high value losses occurred in the UK, which accounted for eight of the total. Based on all crimes reporting a value, the average loss for cargo thefts in the quarter was 74,941 euros.

TAPA’s intelligence on product thefts shows 91.4 per cent of all reported crimes in Q2 2016 occurred in just six countries; the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Russia and Italy. Overall, 47.5 per cent or 284 of recorded crimes in the quarter took place in the UK, mostly in the East of England and the East Midlands. The 70.7 per cent of UK crimes that gave a loss value were worth a combined 11,149,590 million euros.

The TAPA IIS database received information on losses in 18 separate product categories, which included tobacco, tyres, clothing and footwear, cosmetics, tools and building materials, car parts, metal, pharma and others.

TAPA EMEA chairman, Thorsten Neumann (pictured above) says: “These figures should be a great cause for concern for all manufacturers and logistics service providers because they clearly show the escalation of cargo crime. People wrongly assume that our crime data relates entirely to incidents suffered by TAPA EMEA members.

“In fact, very few of these losses were suffered by our members because of the risk management strategies they have put in place, including adoption of the TAPA Security Standards.

“The greatest risk is to the industry-at-large and, in particular, companies that have yet to fully recognise the issue of cargo crime. We are encouraged by the growing awareness of the problem among law enforcement agencies in the EMEA region, many of which now report incidents to TAPA’s IIS to help our members prevent such crimes happening to them.

“However, we also want to stress the importance of companies reporting cargo crimes to the police in the first place because this is another big challenge, particularly with cross-border shipments. It is important that all stakeholders work together and support each other.”