The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) has launched what it says is, “the most comprehensive supply chain security standards for facilities and trucking in its 17-year history”. The initiative was driven by the need to combat increasingly sophisticated thefts by organised criminal gangs across the globe and to prevent substantial losses being incurred by global manufacturers and logistics service providers, it said.

The new 2014 versions of the Association’s Facility Security Requirements (FSR) and Trucking Security Requirements (TSR) are the result of a year-long review process involving TAPA members worldwide. The revised procedures and processes further enhance what are widely regarded as some of the most robust security standards available for the prevention of cargo crime.

Cargo crime is no longer petty, opportunist theft carried out by individuals, according to TAPA. Today it is co-ordinated by organised international gangs whose attacks often involve violent and armed hijackings of vehicles, facilities and employees as well as fraudulent pick-ups, fake police stops, bogus personnel, slashing open trailer curtains and attacks on moving vehicles.