The IRU, TAPA EMEA and EUROWATCH have signed Memoranda of Understanding to strengthen their cooperation in furthering road transport security.

Geneva – The International Road Transport Union (IRU), the world road transport organisation, the Transported Asset Protection Association, Europe Middle East and Africa (TAPA EMEA), a unique forum that unites global manufacturers, logistics providers, freight carriers, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders engaged in the fight against transport crime, and EUROWATCH, specialising in police response to security incidents across more than 40 European countries as well as intelligence collection, have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) to jointly contribute to reducing losses incurred to the international supply chain stemming from criminal activity and security breaches.

The results of an IRU Survey on Attacks on International Drivers, conducted jointly with the International Transport Forum (ITF) in 2008 showed that 1 in 6 drivers has experienced at least one attack – directed towards him/herself, vehicle and/or cargo - over a 5-year period, at a direct cost of over 7 billion Euros and indirect losses of at least 15 billion Euros in Europe and some Central Asian states included in the scope of the survey. The urgent need to relieve the human suffering and very significant economic losses caused by such organised crime has led the three organisations to reinforce their working relationship, all being strongly interested and involved in combating crime on the road.

Peter Krausz, IRU Head of Goods Transport, Peter Krausz, said “the IRU intends to develop a culture of reporting incidents such as attacks or thefts on the road and in parking areas, in order to set up a wide, reliable database in countries concerned to ultimately create relevant national jurisprudence for transport security. The objective is also to share knowledge with road transport operators and all other players in the industry, so that thoroughly verified information on criminal incidents and tendencies, identified by TAPA EMEA and EUROWATCH, can be made accessible to drivers and transport managers on the IRU TRANSPark web application, which allows registering and searching truck parking areas according to their location, security attributes and featured services.”

Thorsten Neumann, Chairman of TAPA, added: “TAPA EMEA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) constantly captures and shares data, enabling members to use the latest cargo crime intelligence to avoid incident ‘hotspots’, protect goods in transit and, if required, to report and trace stolen property. Furthermore, TAPA EMEA is engaged in developing an assessment scheme to verify the security level of truck parking areas. A closer cooperation with the IRU, which shares the same objectives as TAPA in the field of transport security, will be beneficial for all players.”

Mark Schwarz, Commercial Director of EUROWATCH, continued “EUROWATCH provides the transport industry with a way to contact local police instantly in over 40 countries when a crime occurs as well as systematically collecting intelligence on security incidents occurring in the supply chain, while the IRU carries out ad hoc targeted surveys on the same subject and offers an efficient channel to supply road transport industry stakeholders with relevant information. We look forward to contributing our knowledge and practical experience of supply chain crime to this exciting collaboration.”

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See also Secure Parking Areas to Stop Piracy and Crime on Roads: IRU analysis

Press contacts :

IRU : Juliette Ebélé, +41 22 918 27 07, press@iru.org

TAPA EMEA: Jason Breakwell, +31 20 654 09 00, jason.breakwell@tapaemea.com  

EUROWATCH: Ben Howe, +44 12 3475 9393 marketing@eurowatchcentral.com

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