TAPA EMEA and BIFA boost collaboration on UK cargo security

The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA EMEA) and the British International Freight Association (BIFA) are enhancing their partnership to safeguard member companies amid rising freight crime in the United Kingdom.

In the two years to 30 September 2025, the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) recorded more than 137,000 cargo crime incidents across over 110 countries in the EMEA region, including 5,865 in the United Kingdom. Although loss values were available for only 9% of these UK incidents, they still amounted to reported losses of more than €72 million from supply chains, while the average loss for major crimes that had a loss value of over €100,000 across the UK was €775,736.

In support of the UK freight industry’s heightened response to cargo thefts, the two Associations have exchanged Associate Partner memberships and will now 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 The Rt Hon Rachel Taylor MP is due to have its second reading in the House of Commons on 28 November 2025. This follows a report by the all-party parliamentary group on freight and logistics, which estimated freight-related crime cost the economy £700 million in 2023.

“Freight crime is a major concern for TAPA EMEA members in the UK, which consistently ranks in the top 5 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,” says Harry Hughes, TAPA EMEA’s UK Regional Lead. “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.”

“This cooperation underscores BIFA's commitment to promoting safety, reducing freight crime, and supporting the authorities in their work,” says Steve Parker, Director General of BIFA.

“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 stays informed about current risks and takes proactive steps to protect their operations. By working with both organisations, BIFA will be able to help its members implement targeted security measures, contributing to safer and more resilient supply chains,” he adds.

TAPA EMEA’s Facility Security Requirements (FSR), Trucking Security Requirements (TSR), Parking Security Requirements (PSR), and Cyber Security Standard (CSS) are independently certified security Standards developed by its membership community, which consists of over 1,100 companies representing global manufacturers/shippers, logistics service providers, insurers, parking place operators, security service providers, and law enforcement agencies. TAPA Standards now help to increase the security of supply chains in 67 countries across the EMEA region. The Association’s TIS database also enables its members to see when, where, and how cargo crimes are occurring, the modus operandi used by criminals to target facilities and all modes of transport, as well as the products targeted, and loss values.