TT Club

Disruptive economic, societal and geopolitical influences are altering global supply chain risk profiles. Erosion of traditional buffer mechanisms to ensure continual supply of goods demands a new assessment of potential risks

The challenges inherent in today’s international trade and the supply chains that service it are painfully obvious – higher prices of energy and food, shortages of and delays in delivering manufactured goods, dynamic changes in markets and sourcing regions. The on-going effects of the pandemic, with its associated lockdowns and the war in Ukraine are proving catalysts to ignite underlying economic and environmental trends that will continue to fuel long-term changes in the pattern of global supply and demand.

As a specialist in providing insurance and risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry, TT Club is convinced that a thorough understanding of the practical risks is vital in mitigating the dangers to safety and security that are a consequence of these dynamic factors.

“We are suffering from a disappearing ability to absorb short-term shocks to the supply chain because of fundamental societal and geopolitical changes to the global equilibrium,” commented Dorota Jilli, a Senior Underwriter at TT speaking at the Annual Conference of the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) in Valencia this month. “Yes, Covid and the war are disruptive and are driving up prices but the longer-term trends of production cost increases in Asia and stricter demands of ESG* mean that cheaper goods and transport services are features of a past global economy.”

In her presentation, Jilli explained in detail some of the prevalent risks that operators face in this changed environment. Abandoned cargo is more prevalent with delays through port congestion and lockdown closures meaning the incidence of consignee bankruptcy or goods being unwanted due to loss of markets is higher. This is particularly concerning when dangerous good are left in storage for excessive periods as the tragic incidents in Beirut last year and in Chittagong more recently attest.

“Trends in cargo theft are also in flux with more essential goods such as food and beverages being targeted and luxury goods and electronics not so much as in the past,” commented Jilli. “Cargo at rest, either at ports or inland staging areas, some of which have been hurriedly pressed into service as overflow facilities, is increasingly subject to theft. With shippers looking for ‘workarounds’ to reduce costs or avoid congestion, thieves have been quick to adapt their methodologies and the use of online means of deception and insider recruitment are now both more common.”

TT sees the correct use of data to analyse these trends as being of crucial importance and is utilising its own claims experience along with theft reporting agency information to maintain and expand the all-important industry awareness of the evolving dangers. This, in addition to the developing technologies to support the supply chain and offer predictable and resilient sourcing without the geopolitical risks of foreign suppliers and other disruptions, is seen as a primary mitigator in the management of the developing, modern, longer-term risk profile.

Jilli concluded, offering wise advice to those operating in today’s – and tomorrow’s – global supply chain, “It is important to ensure that adequate risk assessments are undertaken across the full breadth of your operation in order to understand thoroughly the various risks and, where appropriate develop mitigating actions and controls, together with effective continuity plans to protect your business.”

*Environmental, Social and Governance

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 97% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more.

www.ttclub.com

Joint report of 2021 global cargo theft trends finds shift in emphasis from risk of in-transit, vehicle- based attacks to losses while cargo is at-rest — storage locations are critical at risk areas.  Widespread congestion at ports and inland facilities lead to increased opportunity for thieves during the period

London & New Jersey, 16^th May 2022

• Globally cargo thefts from or of vehicles in-transit declined as incidents at storage facilities rose to nearly 30%
• In North America prevalence of port congestion and railhead delays seen as crucial factor
• Idle times in European locations also augmented theft and stowaway risk
• Strict Covid-19 protocols at Asian ports, particularly in China created delays and backlogs leading to theft opportunities
• Increased influence of insider infiltration into operator organisations such as haulage companies and warehousing facilities
• Adoption by criminals of new technology- assisted by increased digitalisation of supply chain processes and communication

The annual report, based on recent incident data for the whole of 2021 collated from sources including law enforcement agencies, governments and trade associations, has been compiled, as in the past years by leading international transport and logistics insurer, TT Club and global provider of supply chain intelligence, BSI.  In this last reporting period input from the Transported Asset Protection Association’s (TAPA) Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region has also helped to significantly increase the level of intelligence in these territories.   

“Constant vigilance is required in order to combat the growing risk divergence in theft trends,” says Mike Yarwood, Managing Director, Loss Prevention at TT Club. “Criminals are quick to adapt to prevailing conditions and have swiftly responded to the increased opportunities that supply chain congestion presents through the amount of cargo laying idle.  In addition, the transport industry’s growing reliance on technology and a rapidly changing market for sourcing materials and components have opened up new avenues for criminals to take advantage of companies’ increased vulnerabilities. TT, along with its partners is committed to tracking and reporting on such developments in criminals methods of operation in order to reduce the risk of losses wherever possible.” 

As the graphic above illustrates the products most frequently involved in global cargo thefts overall last year, included agricultural produce (12%), food and beverage (14%), construction materials (9%) and electronics (10%) Significantly, many of the materials used to produce the latter two, such as nitrogen, iron ore, lumber, steel and semiconductors, have all experienced sharp price increases since the outbreak of the global pandemic due to shortages with a consequent increase in the value of the manufactured products.

The report also offers advice on how operators can protect their cargo from the theft risks outlined.  Tony Pelli, BSI’s Practice Director for Security and Resilience has produced a checklist of precautionary action points.  “To mitigate risk there are a range of safeguards, including careful verification of trucking companies and other sub-contractors; insisting on the provision of details such as driver’s name, trailer number and appointed pick-up times and background screening of employees,” explains Pelli.  “Vigilance is paramount, and we hope our reporting and advice will help supply chain partners to maintain and increase their diligent efforts to combat crime.”

Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO, of TAPA EMEA, commented: “What we are seeing in EMEA is a heightened level of risk to virtually all types of goods moving in supply chains across our region. This comes from increasingly active and sophisticated organised crime groups which often regard supply chains as an easy and lucrative target. Sadly, too many companies wait to seek solutions until they become a victim of a cargo crime but, by then, they will have suffered a significant financial and reputational loss. The way forward is to recognise the risks which exist and to learn about the industry standards, training and intelligence solutions which are available today and which are already key to the supply chain resilience of leading manufacturers and freight transport and logistic providers. All is not lost, but it is a time for action to manage these risks and prevent rising product losses.”  

Please click the following link for the BSI & TT Club Cargo Theft Report

ENDS

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 97% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more. 

www.ttclub.com

About BSI

BSI is the business improvement and standards company that enables organizations to turn standards of best practice into habits of excellence, ‘inspiring trust for a more resilient world’. For over a century BSI has driven best practice in organizations around the world. Working with over 77,500 clients across 195 countries, it is a truly global business with skills and experience across all sectors including automotive, aerospace, built environment, food and retail and healthcare. Through its expertise in Standards and Knowledge, Assurance Services, Regulatory Services and Consulting Services, BSI helps clients to improve their performance, grow sustainably, manage risk and ultimately become more resilient.

To learn more, please visit: www.bsigroup.com

About BSI Supply Chain Services and Solutions
BSI Supply Chain Services and Solutions is the leading global provider of supply chain intelligence, global supply chain verification auditing services, audit compliance and risk management software solutions, and advisory services. BSI’s supply chain services and solutions and services can work independently to address specific needs or combined together to gain unparalleled visibility into your global operations. Implementing BSI’s holistic supply chain risk management suite provides organizations with a complete solution for a more sustainable and secure supply chain. To learn more, please visit www.bsigroup.com/supplychain

About TAPA

The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) is a not-for-profit industry that helps Manufacturers/Shippers and Logistics Service Providers minimise losses resulting from cargo thefts and to increase the security and resilience of their supply chains. Today, in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region, the Association provides a host of certifiable, independently-audited industry Standards for facilities, trucking operations and secure parking as well as training. The TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) also provide the latest and historic recorded incident intelligence, enabling more secure route planning by helping members understand when, where and how criminals are targeting supply chains, and the products most frequently stolen. The Association strongly advocates the reporting of all cargo thefts to increase industry knowledge of risks and to assist companies’ loss prevention strategies. TAPA EMEA’s President and CEO is Thorsten Neumann.

Amid a number of recent fire incidents affecting container transport, ro-ro ships and air cargo movements allegedly involving lithium batteries, international freight transport insurer TT Club is calling for increased vigilance to ensure a secure safety environment for the fast-developing supply chains of this increasingly common component.

The market is exponentially increasing through consumer demand for a wide variety of rechargeable products from handheld devices to power tools and electric vehicles. Recently recorded incidents of container fires caused by, or suspected to involve lithium batteries, as well as conflagrations of significant proportions on car carriers and ro-pax ships mean that safety concerns rightly continue to grow amongst the maritime community.  In addition to which revised regulatory restrictions regarding the carriage by air of lithium batteries, which took effect from 1st April, may result in greater volumes being transported by surface modes.

“Understanding the risks is crucial,” comments TT’s Risk Management Director, Peregrine Storrs-Fox.  “As with many successful technologies, market demand has outpaced the development of safety regulations. Since the mid-1980’s lithium batteries have been classified under dangerous goods regulations for transport based on the weight of lithium contained in the cells or batteries and the potential hazard presented by a given battery is also related to the amount of lithium it contains. However, as technology has advanced, the amount of energy derived from the active material has increased by up to 50%, leading to regulatory mismatch where provisions are essentially framed around mass and energy output.”

Lithium batteries are required to be certified to an international standard involving a rigorous series of tests performed by an approved independent testing laboratory, to ensure they can both withstand everyday use through their expected lifetime and the rigours of transport. Responsibility for testing and achieving certification rests with the shipper and/or manufacturer. The sharp rise in demand has been accompanied by supply of cheaper, poorer quality and untested batteries, including refurbished and even homemade power banks. E-commerce platforms have facilitated a global trade in potentially lethal products, often circumventing global standards and regulations.

Throughout their intermodal journey the primary risks exist when batteries are poorly manufactured, untested or defective; these have a higher propensity to malfunction. However, supply chain risk – at any point of handling, storage and transport – is compounded by used, fully or partially charged batteries. As such the reverse logistics of batteries must be carefully managed; damaged and faulty products being returned or shipped as waste for disposal or recycling present increased risk.

The consequences of lithium fuelled fires can be more extensive than others.  They are very difficult to extinguish, prone to thermal runaway and present an explosion risk. Due to the heat generated, re-ignition once a fire has been extinguished is an additional risk.  In the unforgiving maritime environment, where the crew capability to fight fire is strained, the hard lessons learned by land-based fire responders, particularly relating to electric vehicles, need to be assimilated.

“The majority of shippers will take all practicable steps to ensure that their lithium batteries achieve certification and are classified, packaged, packed, labelled and declared correctly. A small – frankly criminal – minority are motivated to avoid compliance, entering cargo into the supply chain that presents great risk to all,” Storrs-Fox observes.  “Once lithium batteries are placed into the intermodal supply chain, there is little opportunity for the cargo to be checked, visually or otherwise to verify compliance. For all who are contracted to transport, handle or store lithium batteries therefore, developing a thorough understanding of this particular cargo is a prudent step. Moreover, due diligence into the origin of manufacture and integrity of the shipper instigating the move of these potentially lethal power sources is critical.”

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 93% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more. 

www.ttclub.com

Various sources of potential pest contamination exist throughout the global freight supply chain. Both national legislatures and multinational regulators are keen to minimise potentially devastating consequences to agriculture and the natural environment that unwanted invasive pests can deliver. All those involved in the movement of cargo internationally must heighten their awareness and tighten biosecurity measures.

The international freight transport insurer TT Club is bringing the nature of these phytosanitary risks into even sharper focus by helping to educate those involved in the intermodal supply chain about pests taking unwelcomed rides. This is building on the success of its series of animated supply chain security videos. As many vulnerabilities emanate at the time of packing freight units at export locations across many countries, the visual impact of video animations can be effective in conveying these crucial messages.

In introducing the videos Peregrine Storrs-Fox TT’s Risk Management Director commented, “The condition of the structure of the ‘metal box’ and its cleanliness are clearly important elements in relation to pest movement. However, there needs to be focus attention on the condition of the goods themselves and any packaging or dunnaging materials to ensure that they are not contaminated either. We have attempted to emphasise both these aspects in these animations and are grateful also for input from partners in the Cargo Integrity Group”.

The four video clips, that can all be accessed HERE , feature how the route taken by a road transport vehicle can affect cleanliness, as well as how mud and vegetation, however acquired, can harbour invasive pests, risking contamination before loading on board a ship. They also highlight how packing freight units under bright lighting at night can attract unwanted insects and the risk of cargo from previous loads also introducing invasive creatures.

TT wishes to bring the substantial issues of such contamination to the broad range of stakeholders as container flows are complex, involving multiple handovers of control and transport modes. The shipping company, which often operates the container, has little direct control over or access to containers except, with the involvement of local operators, when they are empty in depots or at terminals. This by no means applies to every trip. On many occasions containers are delivered empty for packing immediately after discharging the previous cargo.

A critical place of potential pest contamination is the packing point, over which the shipper exerts the most influence and control, either directly or via contractual agreement with the packer. It is clear therefore that an understanding by a number of parties about the interdependencies and mechanics of the supply chain is required to build effective, sustainable measures to mitigate the risks of transfer of invasive pests. So too is an understanding of biology of the range of pests at the point of origin. TT will continue to communicate the consequences of these risks and the means of reducing them through as many channels as it believes can be effective.

ENDS

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 93% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more.  

www.ttclub.com

A new Kaspersky report – produced in association with leading freight transport insurer TT Club – has revealed that despite a rise in cyberattacks during the supply chain crisis, 16% of UK businesses deprioritised CyberSecurity last year amid the pandemic, port closures, HGV driver shortages and other challenges associated with Brexit.

Cybercriminals have become ever more sophisticated at exploiting organisational silos, security gaps caused by remote working and the supply chain crisis, to undermine the safety and security of critical systems. So much so that companies across the UK and Benelux reported a 30% rise in the number of cyberattacks they faced during last year, compared to previous years.

Indeed, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recently reported an unprecedented 777 incidents over the last 12 months – up from 723 the previous year. High-profile attacks, such as the SolarWinds attack in 2020, have demonstrated how threat actors can target a vast number of organisations by breaching a single link in a supply chain.

Despite these threats, Kaspersky’s report – titled Supply Chain CyberSecurity – Potential Threats and Rising to the Challenge – found that both enterprises and SMEs are showing a worrying level of complacency when it comes to protecting the resilience of their supply chains. Even though almost three-quarters (72%) of companies state CyberSecurity threats are their number-one concern, only a third (33%) have the necessary internal resources and knowledge to respond to a CyberSecurity incident. And just 35% are certain they have taken every possible step to mitigate third-party risks in their organisation. The findings reveal that companies that deprioritised CyberSecurity did so in favour of other real-time challenges, such as HGV driver shortages and other logistical issues caused by the pandemic.

“At TT Club we are constantly assessing the risk profile of the global supply chain and alerting the industry to our concerns, hence our support of this unique report,” says TT Club’s Managing Director, Loss Prevention Mike Yarwood. “One should not underestimate cyber criminals. They are agile, focused and highly sophisticated, presenting a significant threat to businesses in the global supply chain. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, TT would encourage a re-evaluation of cyber risk policies and urge operators to satisfy themselves that sufficient resource is allocated to addressing this threat. Resilience in the face of cyber risk is critical.”

A supply chain attack targets an organisation by infiltrating or attacking a business that sits in its chain of suppliers. If one of these entities has low CyberSecurity threat protection – or it is avoiding some specific cyber security hygiene protocols – it could become the entry point into a much wider network of suppliers. The risk can vary greatly and adds to a company’s threat surface complexity.

A vulnerability in one organisation can significantly impact somewhere else in the supply chain, whether that’s via compromised personal identity or payment credentials. If a supply chain’s weak link is exploited, a business can be brought to its knees. Yet, Kaspersky’s report reveals that just a fifth (20%) of businesses have a third-party risk management solution in place and only 18% of companies have cyber/business resilience insurance.

Commenting on the findings, David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky, stated: “The pandemic, Brexit and supply chain crisis have complicated the cyber threat landscape, making it crucial that organisations take steps to defend against evolving threats under new circumstances. Cyberattacks and data breaches can be highly injurious to any business in terms of damage to reputation, costs of remediation, lost business and other expenses. Companies must ensure they only share data with reliable third parties and extend their existing security requirements to suppliers. We urge businesses large and small to scrutinise their suppliers’ credentials as part of the standard due diligence and contracting process, or risk sleepwalking into a CyberSecurity disaster.”   

To read Kaspersky’s Supply Chain CyberSecurity – Potential Threats and Rising to the Challengereport in full, click here.

About Kaspersky 

Kaspersky is a global CyberSecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies, and we help 240,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com. 

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 93% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more. 

www.ttclub.com

Research methodology

During November and December 2021, Arlington Research surveyed 240 C-suite, middle managers (director level and above) and senior managers who are also sole or joint decision makers for CyberSecurity, IT and information security, across both SMEs (businesses with an annual revenue of less than £/€100m) and enterprises (businesses with an annual revenue of more than £/€100m). 150 interviews were completed in the UK (split 100 SMEs and 50 enterprises) and 90 interviews were conducted across Benelux (split 75 SMEs and 15 enterprises).

TT Club’s analysis of 2020 claims points to an increase in impact related incidents, with corrosion of tank containers’ inner surface and contamination caused by cargoes previously carried as significant other causes of loss.

The analysis makes clear that the effects of increased volumes of tank containers used to trade chemicals and other liquids on the primary east-west trades have altered, to a degree, the risk profile of damage to such units. While in previous years there has been a consistent dominance of contamination as the major source of losses for tank container operators, the current figures show impact incidents as the foremost causation.

The primary causal types reported in the TT analysis account for over 80% of the incidents notified. They are: impact at 36%; internal pitting (from corrosion) accounting for 27% and contamination with an 18% share. The regional breakdown of total claims follows broadly the pattern of the trades on which tank containers are employed: 50% in Asia-Pacific; Europe at 36% and 13% occurring in the Americas.

International freight transport insurance specialist TT Club insures over 50% of the global tank container fleet. The data generated in its latest analysis of notified claims covers the 2020 policy year and is seen as a reliable representation of the risks faced by those businesses worldwide that operate tank containers.

TT’s Managing Director Loss Prevention, Mike Yarwood comments on the findings of the analysis, “The most significant trend we see is the relative increase in claims originating from impact incidents and from pitting of the tank’s internal steel surface. Historically we have experienced higher levels of contamination-related claims,” he says. “The increased occurrence of impacts involving tanks would seem to be a factor of higher container volumes handled at maritime and intermodal terminals. The pie chart breaking down our data below shows some 63% of impact incidents occurring at these locations. Volume increases at terminals, and associated congestion puts additional pressure on operators of handling equipment to achieve greater throughput levels. This effect, exacerbated by many tanks being ‘super-heavy’, has elevated risk.”

Road traffic accidents are the second highest cause of impact damage to tank containers with a higher proportion occurring in the Americas (almost 50%) despite this region accounting for only 21% of total impact-related damage incidents. Of those claims involving pitting damage, an overwhelming proportion occurred in Asia (87%), and the majority involved hazardous material (59%). Yarwood comments, “While there is a plethora of potential causes for this damage, there is currently no identifiable trend causing the increase in claim frequency. It would however be prudent for operators to be mindful of this exposure; ensuring where possible tanks are prioritised for cleaning once in an ‘empty dirty’ state and considering more regular inspections.”

The lower incidence of contamination evident in the current analysis compared with previous years can also be explained by the increased volumes of trade, capacity restrictions and the beginning of serious congestion experienced in recent years. Yarwood once more explains. “An assumption that one could reasonably reach, given the supply chain constraints, is that consignees are arguably more willing to accept cargoes, even where they suspect a negligible contamination issue, on the basis that replacing the product from its supplier could be complex and time consuming.”

TT Club’s Loss Prevention service is extensive and regular alerts and StopLoss documents are issued to assist operators to reduce their risk and avoid time-consuming claims. For more information, please visit TT’s Loss Prevention webpage or for specific tank container information, read TT’s Tank Container StopLoss and latest alert relating to the classification of divinylbenzene.

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 93% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more. 

www.ttclub.com