Joining Forces in South Africa
As TAPA EMEA prepares to bring together manufacturers, shippers and freight and logistics service providers in Johannesburg on 7 March 2023 to discuss ways of reducing South Africa’s cargo crime statistics, new quarterly data from the country’s national police authority shows a further 9.8% increase in truck hijackings in Q4 2022 to the end of December, totalling 492 incidents over a period of just 92 days.
The latest three-month analysis from the South African Police Service (SAPS) reinforces concerns over the number of attacks on supply chains.
Gauteng province, the location for TAPA EMEA’s regional conference at the Emperors Palace Convention Centre record 307 or 62% of all truck hijackings in the final three months of 2022 and remains the prime location for attacks on cargo vehicles. Four other provinces also recorded high rates on incidents:
- Eastern Cape – 54 truck hijackings
- Mpumalanga – 53
- Western Cape – 26
- KwaZulu-Natal – 25
Additionally, SAPS reported 56 cash-in-transit robberies over this latest reporting period.
TAPA EMEA hopes its investment to bring local business, supply chain and law enforcement specialists together on 7 March will help companies identify ways to safeguard cargo shipments and, of course, protect staff involved in the storage and transportation of goods.
“Our goal with this conference and exhibition in Johannesburg is to help supply chain stakeholders understand the level of cargo crime taking place across South Africa and to introduce the intelligence and industry standards solutions which can increase supply chain resilience and prevent losses. For victim companies, such high value losses impact customer relationships, damage their reputations, and lead to rising costs, such as higher insurance premiums. And, tragically, the high level of violence seen in attacks across South Africa continues to cost the lives of drivers, security guards, and law enforcement officers who find themselves innocently caught up incidents as they do their jobs or during the pursuit of suspects,” Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO of TAPA EMEA, said.
“The South African Police Service (SAPS) is working proactively to reduce truck hijackings and other types of cargo crimes and we applaud their initiative. They are also one of the few law enforcement agencies globally to record truck hijackings and cash-in-transit robberies as specific crime categories, which is especially useful intelligence for our member companies. However, the solution to rising crime is not just down to the actions of the police,” he added. “Companies must and can do more to protect their supply chains if they understand the types of crimes, the modus operandi of cargo thieves, where incidents are occurring, and the types of goods being stolen. TAPA EMEA has this insight as well as highly effective supply chain security standards to help protect facilities and trucking operations. We are confident these can contribute significantly to preventing losses and protecting company employees and police officers from the types of attacks we are recording.”
TAPA EMEA’s recent Cargo Theft 18-Month Report recorded data and information on 2,670 cargo thefts in South Africa across all 9 provinces, including 2,236 truck hijackings as well as multiple attacks on freight facilities, costing businesses tens of millions of euros in product losses.
Crime data for this period included a combined loss figure of €31.7 million (577 million Rand) – but only for the 3.4% of crimes sharing an actual financial loss figure. Based only on this percentage, major incidents involving goods worth >€100K stood at €947,862 per crime (18.3m Rand).
Meet our speakers…
In Johannesburg, TAPA EMEA’s conference will begin with a keynote address by Busisiwe Mavuso, Chief Executive Officer at Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), an independent association whose members include the leaders of some of South Africa’s biggest and most well-known businesses. BLSA provides a forum for South Africa’s business leaders to engage with key players in South African society, including government, civil society and labour, to exchange ideas in the national interest and to create effective dialogue. She will discuss crime issues and their impact on business in South Africa.
Updates from the South African Police Service will be presented by General Feroz Khan and Brigadier Duncan Scott, as they share their unique insights on crime from kidnappings and incidents involving violent attacks to the recoveries of stolen goods, and advice on securing supply chains against the risk of crime.
Craig Pedersen, Head of TCG Digital Forensics joins the conference to discuss the sharp increase in incidents of cybercrime around South Africa, which are causing substantial losses to the economy, looking at crime syndicates, forms of cybercrime, how they affect businesses, and how to put countermeasures in place.
Manufacturers and Logistics Service Providers are represented on the agenda by:
• Alida Van Zyl, Aviation Security, Risk and Investigations Manager SSA at DHL Express. Alida spent 14 years with SAPS before moving into the transport, logistics, and airline sectors with Lufthansa Cargo and DB Schenker before taking her current role. She will present a case study based on a TAPA Facility Security Requirements’ (FSR) Multisite certification.
• Martin Taylor, Risk Manager at Rhenus Logistics, will also present a case study, in this instance looking at a recent attempted cargo robbery and the response to it.
• Johan Hurter, an Area Security Manager speaking on behalf of International Platinum Group Metals Association, will discuss the impact of cargo crime on the catalytic converter industry and highlight examples of armed robberies in Port Elizabeth & Cape Town.
• Waheed, Mohamed, General Manager at TITAN Aviation Group, whose earlier career also included 10 years with the South African Civil Aviation Authority as a Senior Inspector, will share his experience of cargo security risks and the benefits of security standards in transport and logistics operations.
Delegates will also hear introductions and updates from TAPA EMEA’s President & CEO, Thorsten Neumann, Chief Financial & Compliance Officer, Ap Boom, and Senior Manager, Standards & Training, Markus Prinz, as they present the Association’s solutions and support for member companies in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region, including the role of the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System in reducing cargo losses and increasing supply chain resilience.
POLICE CRIME
STATISTICS
Truck hijackings in South Africa in the last 3 months of the calendar year:
• Q4 2019 – 325 hijackings
• Q4 2020 – 436 hijackings
• Q4 2021 – 448 hijackings
• Q4 2022 – 492 hijackings
