Plans to reduce supply chain losses through increasing the number of secure parking locations for trucks and drivers have been presented to the European Commission by the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA).

The association outlined its plan to launch a ‘robust secure parking programme’ in the first half of 2017 to address concerns about the number of cargo crimes across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

TAPA says 57.2 per cent of recorded cargo crime in 2015 took place in ‘unsecured parking’ places, which the association says is due to the lack of credible, measurable secure parking sites, making it difficult for companies to determine security levels without physical inspections.

TAPA EMEA vice chair, Jason Breakwell says: “We want to give our members access to a wider choice of secure parking locations, promote the secure sites that already exist, and encourage other parking owners to raise their security levels to gain new business.”

The programme will be open to all parking owners and aims to identify secure places through certification, partnership and mutual recognition. TAPA is building an online tool with features including a route planner, a secure parking locator, site information and contacts, and an incident history overlay showing locations of previous cargo crimes reported to TAPA.

The programme will run in two phases, the first will be three ways for parking site owners to join: a self-certification entry level with TAPA conducting sample audits, by signing an annual Partner Declaration confirming security requirements, and through mutual recognition by TAPA of parking place operators that have met requirements.

Phase two will see a full certification programme with audits carried out by independent audit bodies with recertification every three years and parking operators carrying out annual self audits under the certification scheme.