Cargo Theft IN ASIA 2013 SUPPLY CHAIN INTELLIGENCE CENTER:

Transcription

1 SUPPLY CHAIN INTELLIGENCE CENTER: Cargo Theft IN ASIA 213 FreightWatch International 51 Capital of Texas Hwy, Suite A2 Austin, Texas

2 INTRODUCTION FreightWatch International tracks cargo theft activity around the globe. Gathering data reported by TAPA Asia, law enforcement, industry groups, and open media; FreightWatch categorizes stolen loads under 27 different product types and tracks by date, location, modus operandi (M.O.) and specific product. This report summarizes the Asia theft data collected in 213 and analyzes trends derived from the combination of database content, law enforcement information and industry personnel. SUMMARY Key trends seen in 213 included: An overall increase in average value lost per incident of 65% from 212. An increase in reporting in the region as shown by Vietnam and Bangladesh. An increase in cargo truck hijackings compared to other methods. An increase in incidents involving Clothing/Shoes and Metal product types. FreightWatch recorded 215 cargo theft incidents throughout Asia in 213, a 6% drop in reported theft incidents from the 212 record high of 228. The 212 total, however, included a sizable number of incidents from Vietnam as reported in local media, and no similar report has appeared on cargo theft in the country for 213. With an average of 17.9 cargo thefts per month, the Asia supply chain experienced substantial incidents, including full truckload/container thefts, facility burglaries and driver thefts, at a rate higher than one every other day. Of the 215 cargo thefts with recorded incident types, 16 (49%) were hijackings, while 44 (2%) were thefts of loads from trailers. Both the vehicle and load were stolen in 3 reported incidents, and there were 23 reported incidents of facility burglary. Thefts involving violence or the threat of violence remained a significant statistical proportion of cargo thefts in Asia, accounting for 51% of the total incidents recorded for the year. *Due to fluctuations in the rate of incident reporting in the Asia Pacific region, data for the region suffers a degree of fragmentation. Trends in this report are based on available data and may not perfectly illustrate overall cargo theft in the region CARGO THEFT BY QUARTER Q1 Q2 Q2 Q4

3 MAJOR TRENDS Inconsistencies in incident recording in Asia since 21 limit the identification of cargo theft trends. Noteworthy in 213, however, was an apparent increase in incidents in Bangladesh, as the Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce reported a jump from 6 incidents per month in 212 to more than 1 per month last year. For the sake of accuracy, FreightWatch has reported only incidents in Bangladesh that could be verified. The product type with the highest number of reported incidents for the year was Fashion Clothing/Footwear with 26% of the total. This was followed by Metals at 19% of the total and Food/Beverages at 12%. Hijackings spiked in 213, increasing to 16 incidents for the year, up from 51 in 212. The months of January, March, April, May and June saw slight increases compared with 212, making February the only month in the first half of 213 that did not see an increase in reported incidents. Despite the decrease in cargo theft rates for 213, the average loss value per incident rose substantially, jumping by 88% for the year. Contributing to the increase were several extreme high-value thefts of $1 million or more and an increase in the average value of thefts targeting the Clothing/Footwear and HDD/Storage product types. One extreme high-value theft more than $2.4 million in Clothing/Footwear occurred in October in Shaanxi, China, after the driver of one truck discovered the value of the cargo in another truck. In an apparent impulsive act, the driver hotwired the truck and drove it off the logistics yard in hopes of selling the load. The police found the driver attempting to sell the products on the side of the road after failing to find a wholesale buyer, BY COUNTRY/REGION The top countries for cargo theft in 213 Bangladesh, India, China and the Philippines accounted for 95% of all recorded incidents in Asia. Bangladesh, which recorded 95 cargo thefts in 213, claimed 44% of Asia s cargo theft incidents. Bangladesh was the only country that experienced a significant increase in reported thefts in 213, going from six to 95 verified incidents. At the same time, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, India and Malaysia saw incidents drop from 212. Vietnam and Hong Kong experienced the largest decline, with Vietnam sliding from 126 thefts to just one and Hong Kong dropping from 44 to eight. These changes, however, are largely the result of a reduction in incident reporting in the region and should not be considered a sign of decreased crime, as the surge in reported incidents in Bangladesh demonstrates CARGO THEFT BY COUNTRY COUNTRY Bangladesh India 7 62 China Philippines Hong Kong 44 8 BANGLADESH INDIA CHINA PHILIPPINES HONG KONG AUSTRALIA THAILAND MALAYSIA NEW ZEALAND SINGAPORE VIETNAM

4 BY VALUE The average loss value per incident has fluctuated yearly since 27, spiking in 21 at $212, per cargo theft, dropping in 211 to $139, and then climbing steeply through 212 and 213. As stated, inconsistencies in theft reporting in Asia contribute to variations in the number of incidents reported and in average loss values. Electronics, CPU/Components, Display, Toiletries, Mobile Phones, Food/Beverage, and Vehicle/Equipment saw a drop in average value per theft. Metal in particular fell from $982,622 in 213 to $754,352 in 213, largely caused by an increase in reporting of lower-value incidents in Bangladesh and India. The average value per incident in 213 was $62,954, up 65% from the average 212 value of $377,37. The HDD/ Storage, Commodities, Cash/Bullion, Tobacco, Miscellaneous, Notebook/Netbook, Desktop, and Clothing/ Footwear product types saw the largest increases in the average value per theft. Of these product types, Commodities had one of the most drastic rises, from $122,13 in 212 to $1.1 million in 213 due to a series of high-value incidents over the last year. While many product types experienced increases in their average value per theft, Pharmaceuticals, Jewelry/ Watches, Metal, Sport Goods, Peripheral, Consumer NUMBER OF AVERAGE INCIDENTS VS. AVERAGE VALUE # OF INCIDENTS AVERAGE VALUE OF USD

5 BY DATE May and June with 33 thefts each, January with 28 incidents and March with 25 recorded the highest number of thefts in 213. Though insufficient data precludes trend identification by month, October, November and December experienced drops in cargo crime in both 212 and 213. This pattern, however, could also be explained by a reduction in theft reporting as the years came to a close. As shown in the chart below, cargo theft reporting rates on average have been increasing since 211, with the number of reported incidents declining only in April and June of 212 before dropping off in October JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST CARGO THEFT BY MONTH SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER Reported cargo thefts decreased by 67% from the first half of the year to the second, going from an average of nearly 13 incidents per month from January through June to an average of almost eight per month from July through December. This sharp drop, however, could also be attributed to a reduction in reporting on incidents occurring after June. While Monday was the clear day for thefts (or discovery of thefts) in Asia in 212, the cargo thefts that included an incident date in 213 followed a unique pattern of increasing on Monday and Tuesday, dipping on Wednesday, spiking again on Thursday and then declining more each day through Sunday JAN - 12 FEB - 12 MAR - 12 APR - 12 MAY - 12 JUN - 12 JUL - 12 AUG - 12 SEP NOV - 12 DEC - 12 JAN - 13 FEB - 13 MAR - 13 APR - 13 MAY - 13 JUN - 13 JUL - 13 AUG - 13 SEP - 13 OCT - 12 CARGO THEFT : NOV - 13 DEC - 13 OCT - 13 MONTHS TRENDLINE Hijackings saw a similar pattern, with the highest number reported on Tuesday with 13 incidents and Wednesday with 12 incidents. The lowest number of hijackings occurred on Sunday and Monday, with six and five incidents respectively. There is insufficient accurate data to provide a theory as to why thieves appear more active on certain days of the week 25 2 CARGO THEFT BY DAY OF THE WEEK # OF INCIDENTS TRENDLINE DAY # OF THEFTS 15 Sunday 1 1 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY Friday 21 Saturday 14

6 BY PRODUCT TYPE Clothing/Footwear was the most sought-after product type in 213, accounting for 7 thefts, or 36% of the 194 recorded incidents with known product types. The Metals product type was second at 2% of the total, while the type of product stolen was not given in 13% of all reported thefts. Seven product types experienced no recorded incidents in 213. Of these, the Display, Pharmaceuticals and Toiletries categories dropped to zero from five, four and three thefts respectively the year before. Other product types that reported no incidents in 213 were Commodities, Peripheral, Sport Goods and Various IT. Recorded thefts targeting the Clothing / Footwear product type increased from 14 in 212 to 7 in 213, a 5% jump. Sixty-eight of the 7 recorded thefts in this sector occurred in Bangladesh, while two took place in China, demonstrating the impact of incident reporting on regional data. FASHION - CLOTHING/FOOTWEAR Due largely to the sharp increase in reported thefts of Clothing/Footwear in Bangladesh last year, recorded thefts targeting this product type increased significantly, from 26 in 212 to 7. Thus, this sector s share of total incidents jumped from 6% in 212 to 33%. At the same time, the average loss per incident in the Clothing/ Footwear sector dropped by 3% from $655,36 per incident in 212 to $463,797 in 213. The most targeted items in this sector were clothes meant for export outside the country. METAL Similar to Clothing/Footwear, the Metal product type saw a jump in reported incidents thanks to information from Bangladesh. With the addition of this data, Metal thefts increased from 17 incidents in 212 to 38 in 213. Twenty-four of these thefts were recorded in Bangladesh, eight in India, two in China and one in the Philippines. The increase makes the Metal product type the second most targeted category in 213. FOOD/BEVERAGE The Food/Beverage product type saw a drop in reported incidents in 213, going from 43 incidents in 212 to 26 last year. Despites this decrease, Food/Beverage was the third most targeted product type, consisting of 12% of overall reported cargo thefts in 213. India, with 15 thefts targeting this sector, recorded the highest number of Food/Beverage incidents for the year. The Philippines reported seven incidents in this sector, while Thailand reported only two thefts, and China and Australia each reported one incident. Among the items most targeted were fresh produce, rice, energy drinks and liquors. Food/Beverage thefts stayed below three incidents per month except in May and August, which each saw four thefts in this sector. 22% 18% 23% 17% 5% 4% 3% 1% 16% 7% 8% THEFT PERCENTAGES BY PRODUCT TYPE FOOD/DRINKS 23% MISCELLANEOUS 22% ELECTRONICS 18% METAL 17% CLOTHING/SHOES 16% UNSPECIFIED 8% BUILDING/INDUSTRIAL 7% ALCOHOL/TOBACCO 5% CASH/BULLION 4% AUTO PARTS 3% PERSONAL CARE 1%

7 BY THEFT TYPE AND LOCATION In 213 cargo thieves in Asia most often targeted trucks en route to their destinations, as 49% of all incidents were hijackings. Facility burglaries and thefts of vehicles with load either through deception or collusion also proved popular among thieves, as each claimed 12% of all reported incidents. The number of incidents in which thieves used violence or the threat of violence increased slightly in Asia last year, rising from 57 cases in 212 to 62, making it 51% of all incidents with a stated method. Despite a drop in reported incidents from 85 in 212 to 31 in 213, the intrusion method was employed in 25% of all thefts in 213. In 213, 52% of all cargo thefts with a reported location occurred while the truck was en route to its destination, while 12% occurred in unsecured areas such as truck stops, unsecure parking lots and even by the side of the road. Comparatively, the percentage of thefts from secured lots decreased from 48% of known locations in 212 to 36% of known locations in 213. *There is no general consensus within the industry on the definition of secured lot, and this designation is assigned when a theft report indicates that the location was a secured parking area or cargo storage facility THEFT OF VEHICLE PILFERAGE ROBBERY THEFT OF VEHICLE PILFERAGE ROBBERY FRAUD (DECEPTION) FRAUD (DECEPTION) BURGLARY (PREMISES) THEFT OF VEHICLE AND LOAD BURGLARY (PREMISES) HIJACKING THEFT OF VEHICLE AND LOAD THEFT FROM VEHICLE CARGO THEFT BY INCIDENT TYPE HIJACKING THEFT FROM VEHICLE