Will they, won’t they? That could be asked about the latest attempt to form an SA branch of the global Transported Asset Protection Association (Tapa), which failed in its first attempt to get off the ground in September 2008. The concept of this global security association is that it acts as a global forum in which members share in all the information gathered from real life security breaches by criminals, and what tactics have been devised to counter these situations. It is basically designed to protect highvalue, high-risk products moving in and around the country’s major cities, airports and seaports. At its last inception a big drawback to its acceptance by local manufacturers, logistics and freight transport providers was the fees required to join the body. At the time, FTW was told that there was no clear-cut consensus in the freight and trade industries as to whether Tapa could justify its fees with the products it offered. The cost of membership seems to be a sticking point for a number of freight executives FTW talked to about the subject – with forwarders particularly loathe to fork out for security precautions that many feel are more the forte of the shipper or importer. In the end the association faded from the local scene. But now the global security association is trying again to establish an SA chapter, and is completely aware of this fees issue, according to Andre Du Venage, CEO of Secure Logistics and chairman of the Tapafounding working group committee. “We remembered the previous situation, and have fixed the membership fee at E1 000 (R12 900) – 50% of that levied in Europe,” he told FTW. “None of those who have so far joined, or are in the process of doing so, have expressed any problem with this fee level. “However, if the Tapa board finds it a problem in the future, it will be prepared to review it.” When quizzed on what they can expect to gain from this fee, Du Venage said that they would get free Tapa training, and free attendance to the annual Tapa conference. “They can effectively be part of the Tapa brotherhood, including access to all the Tapa security information that has been gathered from around the world and receive monthly news bulletins to keep them up to date. They will also be able to submit suggestions on freight operation requirements which will be considered for inclusion in our global database.” Another practical benefit, he pointed out, was that companies tendering for major international contracts are most often required to be Tapa-compliant for consideration. Du Venage also told FTW that the SA initiative had taken a big step forward in its quest to establish Tapa in the country when it recently held a twoday training session and regional conference in Johannesburg, and nearly 50 supply chain security professionals from the manufacturing, logistics and freight transport industry attended. Crime of all kinds is a major everyday occurrence in SA, according to Tapa. It has been estimated that SA has lost R650 billion to corruption over the last 18 years, while 5 900 new crimes are reported by the SA Police Services (SAPS) every 24 hours along with the 43 murders that happen on a daily basis. Between 2004 and 2012, 125 367 hijackings were reported by the police, of which 9 531 involved trucks. According to police data, reported robberies at non-residential premises over the same period stood at 87 033 and this was in addition to a reported 629 762 commercial crimes. And, according to Du Venage, a convincing selling point for Tapa, therefore, is that Tapa EMEA’s latest benchmark report concluded that the association’s members incurred three times lower losses than non-members. A statistic that rather changes the question of whether they will or won’t join to the rather definite statement that they must. INSERT Between 2004 and 2012, 125 367 hijackings were reported by the police, of which 9 531 involved trucks.
