The Transported Asset Protection Association recorded 1,515 freight thefts reported to its Incident Information Service in 2015, a 37.4% year-on-year increase and the highest number in five years.

TAPA attributed the rise to growing awareness of cargo crime among law-enforcement agencies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as the willingness of European police forces to share data with the association.

“We know that the number of cargo crimes reported by TAPA and others still only reflects what may be a relatively low percentage of overall cargo crimes,” said Thorsten Neumann, chairman of TAPA EMEA. “Often this is because freight thefts are recorded by law-enforcement agencies only as commercial property or vehicle crimes so it is difficult to extract the data that specifically relates to supply-chain losses. However, this is changing and in 2015 we received a record number of intelligence updates from police authorities, which is extremely encouraging. This is enabling us to build an increasingly accurate picture of cargo crime in our region.”