Partnership between TAPA EMEA and BIFA targets cargo security as UK ranks top five for thefts with over 5,800 incidents recorded in two years
The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA EMEA) and UK forwarding association BIFA have launched a new partnership aimed at tackling cargo crime in the country.
The two associations have exchanged associate partner memberships and will work more closely together to exchange information, insights, and cargo security solutions to help safeguard supply chains against criminal attacks.
The cooperation comes as a proposed Freight Crime Bill sponsored by MP Rachel Taylor is due to have its second reading in the House of Commons on 28 November.
This follows a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Freight and Logistics, which estimated freight-related crime cost the economy £700m in 2023.
Harry Hughes, TAPA EMEA’s UK Regional Lead, said: “Freight crime is a major concern for TAPA EMEA members in the UK, which consistently ranks in the top five countries in our Europe, Middle East & Africa region for recorded cargo thefts.
"We are, therefore, greatly encouraged by the increased collaboration between UK freight, logistics, road haulage, and law enforcement bodies to find effective ways to prevent these types of incidents from occurring, and to reduce freight crime’s significant financial impact on individual businesses, consumers, and the UK economy.
“Working alongside BIFA and other industry partners, TAPA EMEA is part of the solution and we aim to leverage our supply chain security standards, training, and intelligence tools to help freight companies in the UK make their supply chains as secure and resilient as possible against the types of attacks we know are regularly taking place nationwide.”
BIFA director general Steve Parker added: “Collaboration is key to tackling freight crime effectively and our cooperation with TAPA EMEA comes a few months after we strengthened our sponsorship and work with the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS).
"The collaboration with both TAPA EMEA and NaVCIS will help to ensure that our extensive corporate membership base stay informed about current risks and take proactive steps to protect their operations."
TAPA said that in the two years to 30 September 2025, the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) recorded over 137,000 cargo crime incidents across more than 110 countries in EMEA, including 5,865 in the UK.
While actual loss values were only recorded for 9% of these UK incidents, this still equated to losses of goods worth over €72m from supply chains.
