“By putting in IP cameras, it gave us a lot more flexibility and
scalability. As well, the IP cameras give us far higher resolutions,
which is key when you’re doing investigations on small parcels.
“On analogue cameras, they’re far harder to see, unless you have many
more cameras covering smaller areas. We can cover a larger area with an
IP camera and get greater detail at the same time — which cuts down on
the time we take with our investigations.
“I’d still like to go over to IP (completely), but you have to think
about what your bandwidth considerations are — the remoteness of the
place,” he says. The availability of technical know-how in the area to
manage cameras on an ongoing basis must also be considered.
The presence of cameras acts as a deterrent to would be thieves and provides some peace of mind, says Burdett.
“We offer ourselves to be a low-theft kind of carrier. This is one of the steps to keep it low.”
The cameras help solidify ATS as a reliable, safe carrier, but they can also help save the company millions by averting theft.
There’s a tendency to assume that theft of retail goods and a
victimless crime — no one’s getting hurt, big companies can afford to
take the hit, and insurance will cover the worst of it anyway.
Not so, says Burdett. The premiums for insuring shipments can run into
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Any stolen merchandise could be
financially crippling.
“It is a huge cost to your business to lose a trailer,” he says — plus
there’s the added complications associated with explaining the incident
to the insurance company — “that you weren’t negligent, that this was
beyond your control and reasonable foresight.”
Better to be safe and secure, he says. “Part of the service that we
supply is our security and our commitment to security for those
products traveling through our supply chain.”
A lot of what ATS ships tends to be attractive to thieves, he says.
“We’re a premium carrier for freight, so we deal with a lot of high end
items that are small in size – everything from pharmaceuticals to
electronics, high end clothing, entertainment products like DVDs and
CDs. It’s extremely streetable stuff.”
Small, high value items tend to be the obvious targets, adds Possamai — iPods, cell phones, but “it could be anything.
“You may have somebody who can move a lot of winter tires. If someone
hears you’ve got a truck load of winter tires being shipped somewhere
well, bang, you’ve got demand meeting supply.”
The problem of cargo theft is likely worse, given the current
recession. More people than just the thieves are involved, says
Possamai — everyone who turns a blind eye as to the origins of their
merchandise is complicit. A lot of it ends up at flea markets, but it
could just as easily be moved down to South America and sold cheap
there.
“None of this would be happening if there wasn’t demand for it,” he
says. “If the middle men couldn’t sell this to somebody, the whole
process would not be going on.”
Possamai applauds companies like ATS that are willing to take positive steps to combat theft.
“I think it makes a lot of sense — CCTV, access control, employee
monitoring — but trucks have to go somewhere. They can’t stay in a
protective cocoon all the time.”
Cargo theft gangs have even been known to follow a truck to a truck
stop, wait till the driver goes inside for a bite to eat, then drive
off with the trailer.
“Crime is like a balloon: you squeeze it one place, it’ll pop up somewhere else.”
Burdett recognizes that it’s a huge issue for the industry struggle,
but people with newer technology “have more success deterring or at
least investigating the thefts.”
Burdett is currently using motion detection software but he says more advanced analytics are under consideration.
“A company’s commitment to security can be shown in the equipment that they’re using and how it’s set up.”
