Brazil Update
SÃO PAULO, 9/28/09 - At the 7th Highway Cargo Transport Symposium, held in São Paulo on Friday, representatives from the sector met with high court and appeals court judges to discuss several issues, among which the growing problem of cargo theft.
Appeals court judge Heraldo de Oliveira Silva pointed out that in 2009 there have been 3,809 cases of cargo theft in Brazil, at an average of 630 a month, against 6,653 cases in 2008m, at an average of 554 a month. The losses generated by cargo theft totaled R$233 million in 2008 (R$20 million a month) and have exceeded R$130 million in 2009 (over R$22 million a month). On the other hand, Marco Aurélio Ribeiro, the legal adviser at logistics company NTC&Logística, said that highway cargo transport in Brazil posted a R$128 billion revenue in 2008, created over 5 million direct hobs, had a 5.6% share in GDP and ended the year with a 1.9 billion truck fleet. Ribeiro also said that different from first world countries, the average age of the Brazilian fleet is 15 years. "There are about 280,000 trucks that are 30 years old or more circulating in the country, whereas in developed countries they do not exceed 10 years', he explained. . Another serious problem is the state of Brazil's highways. According to the expert, almost 80% are in a terrible, bad or regular state, and over a million kilometers of highway are unpaved.
Ribeiro also mentioned that investment in the sector remains insufficient. "In 1975 1.8% of GDP was invested in highway cargo transport against 0.2% in 2007", he said.
Tomcats Cargo Theft Task Force
The TOMCATS Cargo Theft Task Force was formed in 1995 and has continually operated as a full-time task force which aggressively investigates and prosecutes major burglary and cargo theft organized gangs.
TOMCAT cases are prosecuted by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office's Organized Crime Section as well as the U.S. Attorney's Office. Many of these organized cargo theft gangs are based within Miami-Dade County and operate throughout Florida and across the United States.
The TOMCATS Cargo Theft Task Force continually recovers merchandise and equipment stolen in large scale warehouse burglaries and full truck load thefts from jurisdictions across the country. Additionally, the Tomcats share intelligence and active subject information with those jurisdictions. Most importantly, the Tomcats in association with the Miami-Dade Police Department's Training Bureau, conducts annual training seminars in Miami to share emerging trends, intelligence and general information with private industry and other law enforcement entities.
Since its inception, TOMCATS has maintained several databases on Florida based cargo thieves. These databases now contain information on more than one thousand subjects who have been involved in cargo related crimes. Currently the TOMCATS consist of Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Selective information can be shared with private industry in a continued cooperation between law enforcement and the private sector.
Any request for information can be forwarded to TOMCATS@mdpd.com or by calling (305) 471-3400. Willie Morales, Detective Miami-Dade Police Department Cargo Crimes Section, TOMCATS Cell (305) 986-5495 Office (305) 471-3427 Fax (305) 471-3410 wmorales@mdpd.com williemo522@yahoo.com 24hrs |
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Grafton Business News: Jan-Aug 2009
North American Cargo Theft 2Q 2009 |
