The freight trucking industry is one of the essential gears of the economic machinery of our country. According to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI), the value of transport, including mail and storage, contributed 15.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of 2022.
Consequently, this industry has a positive impact on national productivity; the generation of direct and indirect jobs; as well as providing millions of people daily with essential products such as food, beverages and even medical supplies.
Incidence of theft to freight transport, overview
Unfortunately, cargo theft is a daily reality, as evidenced by official figures and data collected by cargo transport associations. For example, as of December 31, 2021, the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System reported that a total of 8,762 Investigation Files were reported for theft from carriers throughout the country in that year. Of those, 84.6% reported robbery with violence.
For its part, the Supply Chain Intelligence Center of the international firm Sensitech published its Intelligence Report with cargo theft figures for the second quarter of 2022, registering 4,906 incidents nationwide from May to August alone; showing an increase in these incidents, if we compare them with the 4,722 thefts registered in the same period, but in 2021.
Likewise, according to said report, the center of the country continues to be the area with the highest criminal incidence, concentrating 59% of all cargo thefts nationwide. And it is the State of Mexico, together with Puebla and Guanajuato, that concentrate 57% of this type of robbery in the country.
Regarding the type of theft, the report indicates, at the national level the main one is theft in transit, accumulating 62% of the incidents, followed by theft in unsecured parking lots with 28%. As for the most stolen products are food and beverages, with 30% of all thefts.
It should also be considered that the theft figures are probably higher, since in many cases these are not reported.
Consequences for companies
The lack of security to travel freely on Mexican highways not only puts the lives of carriers at risk; it also causes economic losses to companies, such as stoppages of production lines; rising cost of goods; delays in deliveries of final products; bad reputation and affectations to the final consumers.
What to do in this scenario?
In fact, companies can adopt different measures to protect their transport, reinforcing the operation at all points of their logistics chain, with the help of experts, such as Grupo Multisistemas de Seguridad Industrial® (GMSI), a company with more than 35 years of experience providing private security solutions for all types of industries.
GMSI is a company with strong leadership; which has more than 30 subsidiaries, 14,000 elements and state-of-the-art technology at the service of more than 1,000 clients.
Based on a Security Needs Detection Study, GSMI offers its clients a tailored service, which includes trained human resources; private security guards; a specialized body of immediate reaction; as well as research and labor administration.
It also provides a wide range of technological services that include intelligent monitoring in alarm systems and GPS; the National Monitoring Center C5 and development of security applications for mobile devices.
Grupo Multisistemas de Seguridad Industrial® is a great ally for the containment of security risks for Mexican companies.