An insurance underwriting manager has identified insider information about types of shipment, the route, the planned stops along the route etc as the biggest risk in the movement of high-value cargo. “The cargo crime syndicates are sophisticated, wellarmed and well-staffed, with eyes and ears at all levels of the supply chain,” said Horizon Underwriting’s Mike Brews. “They target the lowerpaid staff members and formulate a plan to target a vehicle at a specific point,” he said. Unfortunately, the shipper is unaware of where they will strike and therefore has to be vigilant and provide the security and cover “DRC to Durban”, said Brews. He told FTW that high-value cargo such as copper, for example, travelled long distances, often across multiple borders. “The security companies have seen a gap – particularly after the recent outbreak of xenophobic violence – and are offering their services all along the route. But this comes at a price and not all shippers can afford this.” Brews added that shippers – and their transporters and agents – were increasingly savvy about the risks and knew how to mitigate them through proper planning of their routes, how to manage the border crossings to ensure minimal stopping time etc. “It’s the transfer of information that is harder to manage,” he said, reiterating that the fewer in-house staff were aware of the transportation plans, the better. According to Brews, “there is always room for improvement” in working with law enforcement agencies to mitigate risk but there is evidence that crime syndicates have informants within these agencies too. “So no plan is fool proof,” he added. “This lack of skill increases the risk to the shipper,” said Brews, adding that shippers needed to ensure they dealt with insurers who had experience in the logistics industry.
The cargo crime syndicates are sophisticated, wellarmed and wellstaffed. – Mike Brews
