Truck crime: the good news

Whether the workers concerned will achieve their goal remains open to debate. There have been similar problems in Le Havre in conjunction with its new Port 2000 development and the solution arrived at here is a compromise whereby gantry operators will remain on the port authority payroll for three years and then transfer over to become employees of the terminal operating company. The sensitivity of the subject here though, has nevertheless been enough to play a part in slowing the delivery of the second container terminal at Port 2000 until late next year. The first new terminal, for CMA CGM, opened in April.

“He tells us that the state of Florida reports a reduction of more than 60% in cargo crime over the past year and that the government of Brazil also reports a sharp decline. Mr Spear’s own company statistics show fewer (but larger and more focused) cases.

“However, Mr Spears also points out how far there is still to go. Total amount of cargo imported through US ports: 17.6m tones; total number of trucking companies operating in the USA: 540,000; proportion of US traffic carried by truck: 85%; bumber of people employed by trucking companies: 4m; number of police officers in the United States employed full-time on cargo crime: 75.”