BSI, TT Club and TAPA EMEA co-author this report to educate the transportation and manufacturing sectors about the dynamic cargo theft risks present across the globe.

Global cargo theft trends

In 2022, similar to 2021, BSI, TT Club and TAPA EMEA recorded fewer cargo theft incidents globally. Despite this year-on-year decline in recorded incidents, we are tracking a steady increase in criminals targeting basic goods like food and beverage, automotives and truck parts, and fuel. This is in large part due to the macro-economic impact of inflation, or the loss of purchasing power, on criminal patterns. Parallel to this gradual shift in the theft of basic goods, and sustained theft of higher-valued goods like electronics, we are also tracking a shift in theft types. In 2021, cargo crime was characterized by long idle times and cargo at rest, whereas in the second half of 2022, we are tracking a return to pre-pandemic levels as global trade volumes
slow. This translates to easing supply chain disruptions that piled up over the pandemic and less cargo waiting at ports and in-transit. As the volume of goods moving slows down and port congestion eases, there is a consistent trend of thefts from facilities and increases in thefts from container/trailers juxtaposed to global drop offs in hijackings. This is only further exacerbated in countries experiencing serious social unrest, like Peru and Bolivia, where cargo is halted, and we are tracking a subsequent drop-off in hijackings. As the delays that defined 2021 and early 2022 ease, so does theft at unsecured parking lots or container yards near port facilities.

This report highlights the cargo crime trends that characterized 2022 supply chains and simultaneously provides organizations with mitigation recommendations to combat these threats to better anticipate emerging threats in 2023. BSI and TT Club have identified themes to better capture the 2022 risk environment and define how they will likely manifest in 2023 – how crime patterns have shifted as criminals adapt to inflation, lessened port congestion, an evolving logistics landscape, and new fraudulent methods to tamper with and steal cargo.

To explore these themes, we will present several case studies, looking for example at how social unrest in Latin America has shown to be a weakness for companies operating there, particularly in Chile, Peru, and Brazil. We will also unpack how sophisticated criminal organizations in South Asia are infiltrating supply chains and utilizing fraudulent practices like fictitious pickups to target cargo in-transit. As we look ahead, we provide mitigation recommendations throughout the report for the themes we will dive into.