Amsterdam here we come...

It feels like longer ago than 2019 since we last hosted a TAPA EMEA face-to-face conference so, for me, 7 & 8 June can’t come quickly enough, and Amsterdam is a great choice of location.

We have registered 550 delegates, the most ever for an in-person TAPA EMEA event, and this reflects what we all know; there is no substitute for meeting face-to-face. Everyone joining us in Amsterdam will learn something that benefits the resilience of their supply chains. It may come from a presentation, a panel discussion, an exhibitor or from networking with another delegate. I know from my previous career as a representative of TAPA EMEA members Motorola, Nokia and Microsoft, I always left our conferences with new intelligence, ideas and contacts which benefitted my supply chain and security roles.

Next month, we will have an outstanding opportunity to reconnect. We have a great agenda, thanks to the support of our expert speakers and panellists. We have a full exhibition hall consisting of leading suppliers of supply chain security products and services. And, we have a venue packed with supply chain resilience stakeholders from across the EMEA region.

Not long to wait now. Make the most of it.

Diesel data

Since we asked for intelligence on the rise of fuel thefts from truck and fuel depots at the end of March, we’ve recorded 106 incidents, including major losses in South Africa and the United Kingdom with values of €323,908 and €300,320 respectively.

So far, incidents have been recorded in 16 countries in EMEA; Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain and the UK.

This is a great response so far to our call for information and I suspect there is a lot more intelligence we have yet to receive. Please keep it coming, along with any other incidents of cargo crime you’re able to share with our new and improved TAPA EMEA Intelligence System.

We want to hear your experiences.

Driving crime

With inflation in the United Kingdom having just hit a 40-year high, one police Chief Inspector has gone on record to say the cost-of-living crisis will ‘invariably’ lead to a rise in crime as more people drop into poverty.

And, of course, we are seeing daily reports of the financial pressures facing families and businesses in countries across our region.

Honest, hardworking people are doing their best to support their families in very difficult circumstances. These are desperate times and the outlook is for more turmoil ahead. Crime groups know this and will exploit it. Supply chains will almost certainly see more losses – and we have to monitor these incidents in the most proactive way in order to share useful, loss prevention insight with our members. Keep us posted if you have anything to report.

We’ll stand with you

It is so good to see the re-emergence of conferences and exhibitions after the shutdown brought on by Covid. As well as our own events, we are keen to have a TAPA EMEA presence at as many third party events as possible if a conference, delegate audience or exhibition matches our supply chain security and resilience objectives.

This month, we were invited by Multiprotexion to join their exhibition stand at Transpotec-Logitec 2022 in Milan, one of the biggest transport and logistics events for businesses in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Balkans, and we had a TAPA EMEA stand at the National Business Crime Solution conference in the UK. At the end of this month, members of our team will also be hosting our exhibition stand and giving a presentation at SIL Barcelona, the leading transport and logistics event in Southern Europe.

We want to do more – but we also recognise we can’t do everything. That’s where you can help:

If you’re exhibiting at a relevant event, why not invite TAPA EMEA to have a presence on your stand?
If you’re speaking at an event, are you able to reference TAPA EMEA in your presentation?
If you’re talking about cargo crime prevention, ask us what intelligence we can produce?
And, if a member of the TAPA EMEA team cannot attend, why not offer to be our representative?

The conference season is getting into full swing and this presents us with endless opportunities to raise our profile with a huge audience of supply chain security, loss prevention, cargo security, risk management, manufacturing, and transport and logistics professionals.

Can you help us spread the word?

Never-ending journey

This month we have implemented more updates to our new TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) as we continue to refine the tool and add new features and benefits and, as aways, we welcome your feedback.

TIS gives our members quick and easy access to our entire cargo crime database, with the ability to filter and view data based on our chosen criteria. It also integrates with our Security Standards© certifications, so, as well as seeing when, where and how cargo crimes are occurring, you can also see TAPA FSR, TSR and PSR certified service providers in the vicinities you’re operating in.

The update released this month includes improved and simplified route risk assessment, which enables the user to drill down into a specific transport lane to identify the activities of cargo criminals and to see secure truck parking places in our Parking Security Requirements programme. It also makes it easier to download and export this data in support of your security planning process.

More will come. Gathering and sharing intelligence is an endless journey.

Art attack

We often lament the low penalties for cargo crime offenders and question whether the sentences handed down by the courts provide a true deterrent for those found guilty of stealing goods.

I was reminded of this again only a few days ago when I read a court report from a case in Austria. In this instance, a man working for a freight forwarder in Vienna was found guilty of stealing works of art valued at €1.3 million, including pieces by the iconic Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt.

According to media reports, the man worked for a logistics business that rented storage space to an Austrian company specialising in moving and storing valuable art. He reportedly displayed the stolen artworks in his home or stored them in his parent’s attic and, when finally caught, claimed not to know their true value. He was finally apprehended after seeking a valuation of a bronze ritual food vessel dating back to the 11th century Western Zhou dynasty. Police were subsequently tipped off by Art Loss Register, an international database of stolen art, and raided the suspect’s home.

Some of the pieces had not even been reported as stolen because their rightful owners believed them to still be within the secure storage facility.

The penalty? A two-year suspended sentence! I am lost for words.