1,843 Recorded Cargo Crimes in Sweden Up 164% in 2 Years

The first step in any national cargo crime reduction programme is for key stakeholders in the country concerned to accept they have a problem that needs to be addressed, and to then take practical, proactive, and collaborative actions which make a positive difference.

In this respect, Sweden must be seen as one of the leading countries in the EMEA region in the way it is working to identify the scope and causes of cargo crime, in its willingness to embrace public-private partnerships, and with its ‘action speaks louder than words’ approach. To appreciate why requires a deeper dive into what TAPA EMEA members now understand about cargo security and supply chain resilience risks across Sweden.

In the two years from 1 July 2019 to 1 July 2021, TAPA EMEA’s incident database recorded intelligence on 697 cargo crimes in Sweden. In the last two years, up to 1 July 2023, 1,843 freight theft crimes have been reported to the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS), up 164.4%. This may well be a clear indicator of a rising level of attacks on supply chains, but it’s more likely to be an indicator that the efforts of Swedish businesses, the country’s insurance industry, and the Swedish Police Authority, are working effectively. Today, it’s possible to see more of the types of cargo crimes that have always been taking place because of better incident reporting.

‘Report! Report! Report!’ has always been the battle cry from TAPA EMEA to all victims of cargo crimes. The Association has also always highlighted that countries with high rates of recorded thefts from supply chains do not consequently present a bigger security risk. They are simply better at categorising and reporting incidents than most of their neighbouring territories.

This need for incident reporting came through loud and clear when Ludvig Wendsjo of the Swedish Police Authority, responsible for coordinating efforts against cargo crime, spoke at TAPA EMEA’s 2022 Conference in Amsterdam. “There has to be cooperation because neither the police nor the transport sector can solve the problem on their own. It is very important to report crimes. A lot of transport companies don’t report crimes to the police because they don’t feel there’s a need for it, and solve the problem themselves with insurance companies. But, from a police perspective, if we don’t know crimes are occurring, we can’t work against them. To take preventive actions, we have to know crimes are occurring and the scope of the situation.”

He also called on victims of crimes to share more information on the products stolen in attacks on their vehicles or facilities. All too often, in the case of thefts from vehicles, it is the driver who notifies police of an incident, but they don’t always know the types of goods they are transporting. “So, when we encounter stolen goods, we can’t backtrack the goods (to their owner) because we can’t find relevant information in our database,” he said.

Of the reports which do include product information, targeted goods have included electronics, home appliances, tobacco, food, alcohol, medication, and clothing.

So, what are the headline numbers for cargo crimes in Sweden reported to TAPA EMEA in the two years to the start of July 2023? TIS Data shows:

1,843 crimes reported to TAPA EMEA
Only 1.7% shared any financial loss data
In over 97% of incident reports, product types were not given
Only 3 major crimes with a value were recorded
Total loss for all crimes with a value = €1,172,731
Average loss for all crimes with a value = €36,647
Over 91% of cargo crimes involved attacks on vehicles

The major crimes TAPA EMEA was able to identify in this period, based on the information reported, were:

€170,000 – theft of metal in December 2022 with no location information
€159,620 – 371 TVs stolen from a trailer parked at a Maritime Transportation Facility in Trelleborg in March 2022
€153,429 – 101 pallets of coffee stolen after the theft of a truck from a secured parking location in Åstorp, Scania County, in June 2022

Other crimes with a value included:

€95,000 – theft of a trailer and 10 pallets of perfume from a secured parking location in Helsingborg in June 2022
€73,291 – 228 phones taken from a Destination Facility in Arlandastad in May 2022

Data provided by three of the biggest insurance companies in Sweden shows they receive around 1,000 claims reports a year relating to cargo thefts and pay out some €3.5m annually to settle claims. This, however, is considered to be a fraction of the value of goods stolen.

Sweden sees very few incidents involving the use of violence. Most incidents see criminals targeting parked vehicles and slashing their curtain-side tarpaulins to reach the cargoes onboard. Cargo criminals, the police authority says, can be small-time operators working locally, through to larger organised networks involving more people and vehicles in attacks, operating their own trucks, using inside knowledge to identify where high value shipments are parked, and operating across large areas. Organised groups in Sweden, police say, also target freight terminals, use their own transport or Shell companies, and have international connections – take a very business-like approach to their activities.

The presentation to the Association’s face-to-face conference in 2022 highlighted that the large majority of cargo thefts take place in the south of Sweden and on the main highways heading north, with a significant percentage of crimes occurring around Helsingborg. Foreign vehicles are a prime target because they often choose poorly planned routes and regularly use curtain-sided trucks, which are easier to gain entry to versus hard-sided trailers. Industry data shows regular crimes involving vehicles originating in Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Incidents in the south of the country, close to the European border, make combatting cargo crime especially challenging as stolen goods can quickly cross into a neighbouring country, adding further complexity to police investigations.

In response, two years ago, the Swedish Association of Road Transport Companies, the Swedish insurance industry – represented by the not-for-profit organisation, Larmtjänst – and the Swedish Police Authority embarked on a Road Cooperation partnership in a joint effort to reduce crime and increase safety of the roads. The initiative was born out of the lack of safe rest and staging areas for road transport vehicles and drew inspiration from the Neighbourhood and Boat Cooperation project in Sweden, which has proven very successful in its work to prevent gang-related crime.

“The purpose of the partnership is to make rest areas and road transport less attractive to criminal activity through increased attention from those who are out on the roads – many times our professional drivers. Their observations can be decisive and this information needs to reach the police. Knowledge is also needed about how to protect oneself against crime, which deters and makes it more difficult for the thief,” the Swedish Association of Road Transport Companies says.

As well as training for truck drivers and security personnel, and encouraging information sharing, supported by monthly and annual cargo crime reports, the partnership launched a ‘Tip line’ to make it quick and easy for frontline drivers or anyone else to report concerns such as:

Unauthorised persons moving among trucks parked in rest areas
Vehicles suspected of transporting stolen goods
Suspects offering to buy cargo from drivers

All calls to the Tip Line – number 020-315 315 – are monitored 24/7 by a security company for redirecting to the police.

As Ludvig Wendsjo said when introducing the Road Cooperation partners to TAPA EMEA Conference delegates last year: “This is not a complete solution to cargo crime in Sweden. Swedish Police and the insurance industry are doing more outside of this, and transport companies are doing their work, too. But this is the work we are doing together because we see a future in collaboration.”

This is an approach and message TAPA EMEA fully endorses and hopes to hear more about during the upcoming Nordics Regional Conference in Copenhagen on 14 & 15 September 2023.

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ANYTHING TO REPORT?

If you have cargo crime intelligence relating to incidents in Sweden, please share information with TAPA EMEA via tisteam@tapaemea.org