SKAL: Fuel theft costs transport companies millions of euros – rising fuel prices may increase crime
In its transport barometer, SKAL investigated the prevalence of fuel thefts. One in four transport companies has been a victim of fuel theft in the past year, but entrepreneurs do not feel that the police take the crime against them seriously. At the moment, the effects of the Middle East crisis on fuel prices are drastic and prices are high. This may increase the number of thefts.
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FIND US ON
Of the 513 transport companies that responded to the Transport Barometer conducted by the Finnish Transport and Logistics Association SKAL at the end of last year, 24 per cent had been subjected to fuel theft in the past year. Typically, there had been two to three thefts per attempt. This was the case for 45 per cent of those who were victims of fuel theft. More than five times during the past year, 10 per cent of the victims of theft had encountered fuel thefts.
“Right now, fuel prices have been rising sharply due to the crisis in the Middle East. According to what we have heard from the transport industry, this is also reflected in thefts. If the situation is prolonged, transport and logistics companies should take various measures to protect themselves from fuel theft,” says Anssi Kujala, CEO of SKAL.
Kujala lists methods such as placing warehouses and vehicle tanks so that unauthorised visitors cannot access them, taking care of lighting and training drivers to recognise suspicious activities and how to act if suspicious activity is detected.
Financial losses are significant
The most typical financial loss for those who have been a victim of fuel theft in the past year has been 500–1000 euros, reported 39 per cent of those who have been a victim of fuel theft. Of the victims of theft, 32 per cent suffered a loss of less than EUR 500 and 23 per cent suffered a loss of EUR 1,001–5,000. Six per cent of the respondents suffered financial losses of more than five thousand euros.
When the responses to the barometer are expanded to include the transport companies in the whole of Finland, which consists of approximately 9,500 companies, it can be estimated that fuel thefts will cause a total of approximately EUR 3.5 million in annual financial losses to transport companies.
“The figure is likely to be even higher, when you take into account the various indirect damages that often result from theft cases, for example, through downtime caused by equipment repairs,” says Director Petri Murto from SKAL.
Are the police doing enough?
Of the companies that had fallen victim to fuel theft, 57 per cent reported the theft to the police. Only 14 per cent of the companies that filed a report said that the police report had led to the theft being solved and the perpetrators being caught.
Jari Välikangas, President of SKAL, calls for a change in the situation.
“Society must wake up to the fact that the construction of safe rest areas designed for heavy traffic must be started without delay. Transport entrepreneurs and drivers comply with statutory driving and rest time laws. The consequence must not be that they are vulnerable to criminal activity,” Välikangas says.
Of the companies that reported the theft to the police, 64 per cent felt that the police did not genuinely try to investigate the fuel theft. The situation worries SKAL, as the currently rising price of fuel is known to increase crime against transport entrepreneurs.
“This has been a real problem ever since the price of fuel went up five years ago. During the winter months, thefts occur on a monthly basis. Fuel can be taken from more than ten cars in one night. We also have cameras, from which we have been able to identify the perpetrators, but the police have not been able to catch any of them,” says Heikki Rantala, an entrepreneur from Laitila, who has repeatedly been the target of thefts.
You can read the entire Transport Barometer here.
The Finnish Transport and Logistics Association SKAL is an advocacy organisation for companies providing road freight transport and logistics services. The organisation’s members include approximately 3,600 transport companies around Finland. SKAL – in the store for 90 years. skal.fi; @SKALry
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