Air, Freight News, Road, Sea

Supply Chain Security: More Critical Than Ever

[ April 3, 2025   //   Gary Burrows ]

Fast-moving changes in supply chains across the world are more complex and unexpected than ever says international freight and cargo handling insurer.

A recent bulletin from TT Club, mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry, focuses on drug smuggling and cargo theft in the U.S., along with initiatives to combat the risks, including smart containers and online animated guides to spotting fraudulent instructions to operators.

Drug traffickers have a huge profit incentive. A kilo of cocaine is worth US$1,500 and US$2,200 in producing countries such as Colombia. However, by the time it reaches consumer markets in Europe and North America, it can be worth US$30,000 and US$80,000. Such is the profit incentive for drug traffickers.

Sea-going containers are an attractive mode of transport for these illicit cargoes. Inspections at ports and increased resources aimed at detection make up part of the armory in fighting the burgeoning crime of drug smuggling but technology in the form accurate tracking of containers and their contents is becoming more sophisticated.

            TT Club’s latest latest Supply Chain Security Bulletin “delves into the data relating to this crime and also the methods evolving in an attempt to minimize the consequences,” said TT’s Mikle Yarwood, TT Club’s managing director loss prevention. The first graphic gives some sense to the level of increase in the problem and the successful seizures in recent years.

Focusing on the U.S. cargo crime profile, TT’s claims analysis reveals a more than 60 percent increase in reported thefts of all types of cargo in 2024, compared to the two years prior. Full loads from cargo handling facilities or depots made up nearly half of these last year as opposed to 29 percent in 2023. The second chart examines the change in regional trends across the states.

“At TT we will continue to interrogate our own, and other sources to better understand the risks across the global supply chain, not just crime,” Yarwood said. “We are also dedicated to advising and assisting those involved in the container trades to prevent or reduce these risks.”

The bulletin has developed a series of online loss prevention animations to raise awareness of how thieves commonly access cargo, he said.

The latest TT Club bulletin is available here.