Having no truck with crime

The Transported Asset Protection Association may align secure truck parking standard with European Commission programme

The theft of vehicles and loads is a major issue for the road haulage sector. Parking in unsecured locations – such as roadside laybys, motorway service stations and industrial estates – is now the biggest threat to drivers, trucks and loads of high value, theft targeted goods. Most often, this choice is simply down to what is a acute lack of secure parking sites across Europe. 

The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) is an international security expert network for organisations working in the supply chain. TAPA was formed in 1997 to tackle the multi-billion euro problem of cargo thefts from supply chains. Today, it has over 800 members globally, including manufacturers and logistics service providers, as well as SME freight forwarding and transport operators, and other stakeholders. 

TAPA’s mission is to minimise cargo losses from the supply chain by helping its members manage risk and achieve the highest levels of supply chain resilience. TAPA achieves this through the development and application of its global supply chain security standards, collating and sharing of incident intelligence, training, networking and through its support of, and collaboration with, governmental and regulatory bodies. 

Breaking the wave of truck thefts

Last year, TAPA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) recorded its highest-ever number of incidents involving criminal attacks on vehicles parked in unsecured locations. These 2,342 crimes in the EMEA region accounted for 58.8% of incidents reported to the association in 2018. TAPA reports that the upward trend has escalated further in 2019, with half-year data showing a further 167.6% year-on-year rise in crimes in unsecured parking places. 

TAPA launched its Parking Security Requirements (PSR) 12 months ago. PSR is a tiered certification programme for PPOs to help drive significant growth in the number of secure parking sites in Europe and the wider Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Designed by industry experts to meet the needs of manufacturers and logistics service providers, PSR also provides TAPA members with an online route planning tool to easily identify parking sites participating in the programme, alongside cargo crime intelligence to map the level of risk along their intended routings. TAPA’s database currently lists some 5,000 secure parking places in 10 countries in the EMEA region. 

Since launching PSR earlier this year, TAPA has added nearly 5,000 parking places in 10 countries in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to its secure parking database as part of its initiative to increase the supply chain resilience of its manufacturer and logistics service provider members. 

European cooperation

TAPA is now exploring the potential benefits of aligning its PSR standard with the European Commission’s new Safe & Secure Parking Places for Trucks programme to establish a common solution to help tackle the biggest cause of rising cargo crime in Europe. The European Union (EU) has listed secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles as one of its top priorities, having identified that truck operators and drivers in Europe are confronted with an insufficient number of parking facilities and often park in non-secured zones or unsafe locations, increasing the risk to driver safety as well as vehicle and cargo thefts.

The EU’s Safe & Secure Parking Places for Trucks study has defined an action plan with a certification framework and funding opportunities to increase the overall number of safe parking places and to help optimise existing capacity. The EC’s Safe & Secure Truck Parking Audit, available later this year, will offer a one-stop website for parking place owners, auditors and audit entities. The EU also shared information of its funding programme at a conference in Brussels in November.

TAPA agreed to look for ‘a common understanding on the best way forward for secure parking’ at a conference in Rotterdam hosted by TAPA EMEA for Parking Place Operators (PPO) and also attended by a diverse group of supply chain industry stakeholders. Delegates at the TAPA PPO conference in the Netherlands heard updates from the association’s president and chief executive, Thorsten Neumann, members of TAPA’s standards team, as well as from Frederik Rasmussen, deputy head of unit, DG MOVE at the EC, and Ton Barten of Truckparkings Rotterdam, one of the PPOs participating in the TAPA PSR programme. 

`”As a result of the proactive actions taken by TAPA and the EU, we now see a unique window of opportunity for a significant step change in secure parking in Europe,” said Thorsten Neumann. “Our conference in Rotterdam was to test the feeling of industry on the best way forward. We all recognised the value of having one common standard for secure parking. Having already collaborated with the EC study, we are keen to take this to the next stage and see how we can further leverage TAPA’s partnership with the EU to bring the most robust secure parking programme across the continent. 

“We will continue to move forward with our own PSR Security Standard while our discussions with the EU continue, but we can see a lot of common ground to align our respective programmes and provide a solution to satisfy the high demand for all levels of secure truck parking. We are confident that by working together we can meet our shared goal of making supply chains safer and more resilient.”

French truck stop meets the mark

Delta Park Truck Secure Parking gains first TAPA PSR Level 1 certification in Europe

France is a particular hotspot for incidents reported to the TAPA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) database. In the first half of 2019, TAPA recorded 1,220 cargo crimes in 12 regions of France. Losses reporting a value – which included a single theft of goods worth €3.4m – averaged nearly €100,000 per crime in this period. Most significantly, 1,025 or 84.8% saw criminals targeting vehicles which had stopped in unclassified parking places.  

A TAPA programme to tackle the biggest cause of cargo crime in Europe has completed another significant milestone. The Delta Park Truck Secure Parking in Dourges, France, has become the first site to achieve the highest Level 1 certification for the association’s new Parking Security Requirements (PSR).     

Delta Park’s Dourges site in Hauts-de-France provides 146 parking spaces for logistics operators looking for a secure and comfortable parking place in this high traffic area near the A1/E17. It is located just 1km from the junction of the A1 and the A21, the busiest road hub in Europe with more than 25,000 heavy trucks passing daily. 

In addition to providing secured parking spaces for drivers and their goods, TIP has built a complex of facilities for drivers, which are available 24/7. These include free showers, free Wi-Fi, laundry and snacks vending machines. A restaurant located at the entrance of the parking completes this offer of services. 

Delta Park’s achievement was recognised by a certificate presentation to Didier Felice, vice president of TIP Trailer Services for the Mediterranean region, by TAPA EMEA board member Rein de Vries and the association’s PSR marketing coordinator, George Wiessing.

Didier Felice said: “Faced with the demands of our customers and associations like TAPA, we wanted to provide a solution to the problems of securing the flow of goods, with our main concern being the safety of goods and drivers. TIP has ensured that our Delta Park site uses the latest technologies available in terms of thermal camera video surveillance and access control as well as secure perimeter fencing and a 24/7 security guard.”

Thorsten Neumann, president and chief executive of TAPA EMEA, said: “Our members will be delighted to see Delta Park’s commitment to meeting the highest standards of our Parking Security Requirements (PSR) and we hope this will inspire more and more Parking Place Operators (PPOs) to join our secure parking programme, which is based on several tiers of participation. Delta Park is demonstrating the commitment and professionalism our Manufacturer and Logistics Service Provider members want to see, and I am confident their investment in secure parking will be rewarded with new parking bookings from companies intent on protecting their drivers, vehicles and cargoes. 

“The TAPA PSR Security Standard makes sense to PPOs because they know it has been created by their customers and, therefore, meets their requirements. This is reflected in the increasing number of PPOs working with us. We expect this to grow to 20,000 to 30,000 secure parking places in the EMEA region by the end of 2020 because the demand for secure parking far exceeds the current level of supply.”      

TAPA believes there are hundreds of professional parking sites in Europe that can meet its self-certification PSR Level 3, a free-of-charge certification for Parking Place Operators (PPOs). The programme also includes higher Level 1 and 2 certifications, which require sites to be audited by TAPA-approved Independent Audit Bodies (IABs).

Information on the PSR Security Standard can be found on the Association’s website at www.tapaemea.org 

PIX TAPA’s PSR marketing coordinator George Wiessing (centre) presents Delta Park’s PSR Level 1 certificate to Didier Felice, VP of TIP Trailer Services for the Mediterranean region

Delta Park’s TAPA PSR Level 1 certified secure truck parking in Dourges, France