The TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS), which serves as the cargo crime database for the Association, reported that unclassified parking places accounted for 53.4% or 6,545 out of 12,259 incidents in 2019. However, in 2022, only 6.72% or 832 out of 12,378 reported freight thefts to TAPA EMEA were associated with unclassified parking locations. Additionally, less than 4.6% of the 10,698 cargo crimes recorded in 2023 were reported as occurring in unclassified parking areas.
TAPA EMEA suggests companies in the region have implemented proactive measures to safeguard their supply chains, resulting in this positive trend.
Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO of TAPA EMEA, said: “Overall cargo crime in the EMEA region is continuing to rise year-over-year, but when you look at recorded incident data provided by the industry, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders since 2018, there is a clear and accelerating downward trend in the number of cargo crimes taking place in unclassified parking places.
“In 2018 and 2019, over 53% of all the incidents reported to TAPA EMEA annually stated this as the location. In the last 3 years, this percentage has been falling at an ever-faster rate; to 41.8% in 2020, 21.9% in 2021, and 6.7% last year. In 2023, the trend so far is even lower at 4.5%.”
He added: “Additionally, given the substantial focus on supply chain resilience throughout the pandemic, and the need for companies to protect end-to-end deliveries to maintain client relationships, these statistics may also demonstrate much greater awareness among businesses and drivers of the need to think about, and plan for, their parking requirements. This results in significantly fewer attacks on trucks in unsecured parkings, and, consequently, lower product losses in these locations, which we naturally welcome.”
Despite the significant decline in such incidents, TAPA EMEA continues to highlight the risk of high-value losses resulting from poor parking decisions. The TIS database for 2023 includes notable cases where criminals targeted vehicles in unclassified parking places, including:
• €1.5 million – theft of electronics from a truck parked in Lower Saxony, Germany, on 19 April
• €135,000 – a shipment of household appliances taken from a vehicle in Bratislava, Slovakia, on 14 January
• €102,000 – the theft of a truck in Lower Saxony, Germany, on 27 May
• €100,000 – 40 e-bikes stolen from a truck in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, on 26 April
TAPA EMEA has taken the lead in establishing more secure truck parking locations throughout the region to enhance the safety of drivers, vehicles, and high-value goods frequently targeted by thieves.
In 2018, the Association introduced the Parking Security Requirements (PSR) industry standard for Parking Place Operators (PPOs). This standard helps identify the minimum security levels required by customers and has become the most widely adopted standard for secure parking in EMEA. The TAPA EMEA PSR secure parking database currently provides member companies with access to over 20,700 parking places at 87 locations across 16 countries, reflecting a 10% increase compared to the previous year. In January, an updated version of the PSR for 2023 was launched, incorporating measures to address emerging security threats.
The efforts of TAPA EMEA to promote safe and secure truck parking areas in Europe have been officially acknowledged, as the Association has been granted Official Training Centre status by the European Commission for its EU Safe & Secure Truck Parking Areas (SSTPA) standard. This recognition enables TAPA EMEA to collaborate on funding and establishing professional parking locations throughout Europe, contributing to the overall enhancement of supply chain security.
Neumann concluded: “TAPA EMEA members are contributing to this improvement because they can access our full Facility (FSR), Trucking (TSR) and Parking (PSR) industry Standards. It is only by adopting an end-to-end supply chain security strategy than you can mitigate the growing cargo security risks companies are facing today. Our ability to also provide intelligence on thousands of cases of cargo crime, and training to support the implementation of our Standards, is enabling our members to maintain the highest levels of supply chain resilience.”