Bad things can happen to ocean freight during the transportation process, including theft of freight through piracy. And while the piracy levels are dropping to new lows, there is still a threat of piracy that plagues global shippers everywhere. Shippers lose billions of dollars worth of cargo annually due to theft. The Journal of Commerce recently released a study and an infograph about this subject. They based their findings on the 2013 piracy statistics worldwide to determine where in the world can your freight be most vulnerable to theft. This is something every shipper should see. The next time you get an ocean freight quote, you must consider the possibility of theft.
According to this infograph, 41% of the container theft in the United States occurs on a truck when it is parked. Therefore, it is clear that freight theft can also occur before and after the container is at the port. The highest-loss region in the World from theft is currently Europe. Most cases of piracy occur around Africa. Last year Africa saw the highest increase in piracy. Cargo theft is especially popular in Africa around the nations of South Africa and Egypt. Commodities, like electronics, are also continually the targets of pirate attacks in the South Asian and Pacific regions.
Before you run to your freight forwarder about your piracy concerns, you should know that less than 1 out of every 10 pirate attacks occur on a container ship. Although container shipping is generally safe, there could clearly still be pirate attacks.
