Cargo Theft Trends:
The U.K. cargo thefts and trends report created in partnership with BSI and NaVCIS seeks to highlight major areas of concern, targeted modalities and commodities, and theft tactics utilised throughout the United Kingdom. BSI assesses that companies lost at least an estimated £54 million ($76 million) due to cargo theft in 2017, demonstrating the significant amount of commerce lost in the country annually. However, taking into account limitations in cargo crime collection, BSI anticipates that this loss value is likely much higher. BSI’s quarterly report analysing nationwide trends, hot spot locations, and criminal tactics helps shippers and law enforcement agencies to establish and implement strong measures to deter cargo crimes.
SI recorded 454 theft incidents from cargo vehicles in the United Kingdom during the first quarter of 2018. BSI assesses that 80 percent of these incidents involved cargo theft crim
es, with the remaining 20 percent of incidents involving thefts of fuel, vehicle parts, and driver personal belongings. Although not as valuable as thefts of cargo loads, these peripheral incidents highlight cargo truck vulnerabilities and exhibit the potential for criminals to expand these types of theft operations to target cargo shipments.
BSI identified the M1 as the top highway route for cargo theft incidents in 2017. The M1 motorway remains the top highway route in Q1 2018 for cargo theft in the United Kingdom, and drivers tend to favour this motorway due to its convenience for distributing freight north-south through the United Kingdom and the substantial number of rest areas needed to meet legal rest requirements. The large volume of freight transiting this motorway provides thieves with ample opportunity for targeting cargo trucks, and BSI assesses that thieves often repeatedly target the same include the A421 and M62, which saw the second and third highest number of theft incidents during this time. Additionally, BSI approximately 66 thefts occurred along this transportation route. Thefts on the M1 represent 21 percent of all highway freight thefts that occurred in the country during the first quarter. Cargo truck rest areas to steal goods along this route. Other high-risk highways M2 highways.
