Market forces have been recognised as a key driver of criminal activity according to the insurance mutual TT Club, which claims that there is a correlation between economic crises and freight crime.
In 2022 and 2023, supply chains began to normalize after being bloated by overblown demand, but "as one potential risk diminishes, others arise," said the TT Club. Both the pandemic and the inflation in major consuming markets, including the US, EU and UK, have given rise to what the insurer calls “shadow markets”, which means that the three drivers of crime, the motivation, opportunity and ability come into play. “As criminals become ever more sophisticated, they are able to target particular vehicles and goods, often those for which they have a known market,” the TT Club added.
In 2020 as the pandemic spread and nations locked down the shift from electronic goods as the major targeted cargo shifted to food. Interestingly TT Club annual loss figures for 2021, published in the middle of last year listed the top commodity targeted by organised criminal gangs had once again been electrical goods at 24.7%, with food down at 14.8%. This year’s report on cargo theft reveals that food is once again beginning to be the focus of criminals with 16% of cargo thefts involving food and drink while electronics had fallen to 12%.
High value goods are always a key target and any place where cargo, particularly containerised or unitised cargo, stands still for any length of time is a risk. Terminals, loading bays and depots, rail sidings are all key areas. Knowing where your cargo is in this context, particularly if it is high value, is critical and container tracking capabilities in real time could be crucial to curbing cargo losses.
Traxens technology can contextualise the situation in which an alert is taking place, not only giving the location, but also the time of day, door opening alerts and real time relay of information, meaning that stakeholders can react to incidents as they are in progress. Real time tracking data can alert stakeholders to cargo theft or unexpected deviations in supply chains, but these may not be the only events that can cause cargo losses.
Europe is seeing an elevated influx of illegal drugs flowing through its ports via containers, particularly through the Benelux ports of Belgium and Rotterdam. Earlier this year the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam held a joint press conference at the Belgian port’s customs facility, highlighting the two countries’ determination to cut the levels of drug smuggling through the two European ports.
In a show of unanimity Vincent Van Peteghem, Belgium’s deputy prime minister and minister of finance along with the Dutch state secretary for benefits and customs Aukje de Vries, along with their respective heads of customs, joined together to announce their plans to tackle the increasing levels of cocaine smuggled into Europe, Antwerp alone had intercepted more than 160 tonnes of the drug in 2022. Antwerp is the main port of entry for the cocaine trade into Europe, and the authorities admit that the sprawling nature of the river port makes it very difficult to monitor cargo handling at the port’s various terminals.
Recognising the challenges posed by the influx of illegal drugs the port authority has deployed its own technology in an attempt to stymie the flow into the country. Antwerp has deployed drones that will hover over terminals and film events on the ground, any suspicious movements can be readily responded to by the local authorities. Given that shipments of cocaine are being increasingly found in reefer containers, buried amongst fruit or some other foods stuff, any container suspected of having hidden narcotics secreted within its cargo will be stopped and searched by customs.
Perishable goods that are delayed in this way vital time can be lost in getting the food to the retailer, and that could come at a great cost to the shipper. But if drugs are found in the container, then the entire shipment is dumped and those losses for a 40ft container load could be catastrophic for some shippers. However, with an IoT device monitoring the container any opening of the container’s doors, or changes in temperature or humidity will give rise to an alert sent immediately to the operator. That means illicit shipments of drugs loaded in South America or other regions can be nipped in the bud, curtailed at source.
In this sense Traxens technology can pay for itself.
