Value and incident categories for cargo theft in Europe : Analysing TAPA EMEA statistics

Purpose of this paperTo analysis the relationship between value (reported stolen value) and different incidentcategories in order to find patterns and trends in cargo theft within Europe.Design/methodology/approachThe research is explorative as this type of research is missing in logistics but also deductive asit utilizes theories from criminology. The analysis is based on TAPA EMEA’s IIS transportrelated crime database. The result is analyzed and discussed within a frame of referenceconsisting of theories from logistics and criminology.FindingsThere are seasonal variations of incident categories. This variation is found both betweenmonths of the year and the day of the week for many of the incident categories, but thepatterns are different for different incident categories. Within this understanding there aremany changes in hot spots, modus operandi, theft endangered objects and handling methodsduring time, but the basic theoretical frame of reference is still more or less the same.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is based on theories deduced from criminology and logistics together withsecondary data regarding cargo theft. The geographically limitation to the Europe is done ofpractical reasons whiles the frame of reference can be used globally for analysis antagonisticthreats against transports.Practical implicationsThis research is limited by the content and classification within the TAPA EMEA IISdatabase. Nevertheless, this database is the best available database and the reports comesmainly from the industry itself, represented by the different TAPA members how report theirlosses anonymous, nevertheless the quality of the data limits the possibility to makenormative statements about cargo theft prevention.What is original/value of paperThis paper is the first within supply chain risk management that utilizes actual crime statisticsreported by the industry itself, in order to analyze the occurrence of cargo theft by focusing onthe value of the stolen vehicle/goods in relation with incident categories