Theft of cargo in transit remains highest among all types of cargo theft in 2020. This is one of the trends identified in the annual cargo theft report released by TT Club and BSI, says in report published in their website.
Global cargo theft
BSI, highlights significant new trends in risks both regionally and globally:
- Thefts of cargo in transit remains highest proportion of total, all though the 71% share is a decrease from 2019 (87%)
- Losses from warehouses and other storage facilities increases to 25%
- An atypical year due to supply chain threats from the pandemic. These likely to be of continued concern well into 2021
- New high-value targets created such as PPE, face masks and anti-bacterial gel. Vaccine supply chain to come under threat as roll out expands
- Food & beverage sector remains largest target at 31%
“The effects throughout 2020 of the COVID crisis threatened supply chain security, continuity and resilience. Not only did newly created high-value commodities such as PPE become targets for theft but bottle-necks in the logistics infrastructure at ports and warehouses brought increased potential risks. Temporary overflow storage facilities added to the dangers in loosening the grip of existing security systems.” said by TT Club’s Managing Director, Loss Prevention, Mike Yarwood.
Overview of global data
In Europe, the stockpiling of goods meant these inventories came under particular threat with 48% of 2020 reported thefts coming from warehouses and production facilities. This was in contrast with 2019 when only 18% came at such locations. On the other hand, 54% of incidents occurred in rest areas and parking sites in 2019 – the 2020 figure was 19%.
In Asia, the countries with the highest risk remain India, Indonesia, China and Bangladesh. The proportion of storage-based risk remains around 50% in Asia but in Southeast Asia the in-transit risk indicates the prevalence of bribery and corruption with a high percentage of thefts being facilitated by employees and customs or other officials.
North America continues to see theft coming almost exclusively in-transit via hijackings or directly from a parked vehicle. Significant disruption to the Mexican rail freight industry, with protesters setting up blockades on train tracks, created a backup of cargo across the country. This disruption led to estimated losses of close to US$4.4billion.
In South America, Brazil was a hotspot last year. A key driver of the high rates of cargo theft here remains the presence of major illegal drug smuggling gangs that need to fund their trafficking efforts. These theft types accounted for 78% of the total losses reported. The extreme rate of cargo theft, however, did drop for the first time in several years, as continued efforts by police and industry contributed to a slight decline in incidents in 2020.
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Source: BSI & TT Club
