As cargo crime levels reach a five year high the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) have drawn up plans for a secure parking initiative in Europe which may come into force as soon as early 2017.
Hauliers have long faced the problem of finding secure parking and also the quality of the security on offer if they do find somewhere.
The program will offer site owners to join their program and become accredited with TAPA who will regularly audit the facilities to ensure requirements are being met.
TAPA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) reported that 86% of all cargo crimes last year involved trucks.
Having spoken to TAPA last year about the problem they state that the situation is probably far worse than is acknowledged because insurers can’t reveal statistics and don’t discuss problems and governments won’t.
Crimes include theft of vehicle, theft from trailer, truck thefts and theft of trailer. More seriously some were hijackings and involved attacks on trucks and drivers.
One of the causes of crime, TAPA says, is the lack of credible, measurable secure parking sites in the EMEA region, and particularly Europe. We completely agree with these sentiments as we know of incidents which have happened within secure compounds, only to find out the compound is not as secure as was expected.
From our experience there is also very little follow up involvement from the police after an incident is reported. The line is probably that this is an insurance matter and if you delve further into Europe you will find the local police less and less interested or able or willing to prevent these occurrences.
TAPAs latest report says cargo crime is only going to increase as we have had a year on year increase for the past five years. Ultimately all cargo is now at risk of theft.
We understand the challenges trying to determine the security at sites and welcome this initiative which also seeks to launch an online platform showing theft hotspots and where audited secure parking is located.
Whilst we work very hard with our customers to assess the level of risk and implement security measures accordingly, we also strongly recommended your cargo is insured, which we can provide in-house.
The premium is negligible and offers peace of mind for damages as well as loss of a consignment and prevents the lengthy and often frustrating process if claiming under CMR, which does not guarantee payment in full.
We can’t stress enough how much we recommend insuring your cargo. If you wish to discuss this further please call us here or alternatively download our guide in the Tools section of our website.
In the meantime we will keep you informed of developments from TAPA in the progress of this initiative.
The Jordon Team