Ferromex Sounds Alarm on Skyrocketing Cargo Thefts Hugh R. Morley - JOC.com
go to original October 31, 2017

Ferromex trains are targeted most often in the state of Puebla (Shutterstock)

A dramatic increase in the number of attacks on freight trains in southern Mexico and near the Port of Veracruz — from a handful of incidents each month to as many as 16 per day — are driving some customers away, Ferromex says.

Some customers say they cannot continue in business after losses from theft, and others are affected by the disruption to the rail system and supply chain when trains are stopped, upending the train schedule, said Lourdes Aranda Bezaury, director of government relations in Ferromex in Mexico. The attacks are the worst in the state of Puebla, but Veracruz has also been frequently hit, with incidents in both areas disrupting some of the 35 trains per day that Ferromex runs in the area, she said.

“Last year, there were hardly any robberies … maybe three or four attacks a day,” said Bezaury, speaking at the annual conference of Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (Associacion Mexicana del Transporte Intermodal) this month. “Now we see five or six, some days 16, attacks on the trains.” As a result, she said, “we have lost important clients.”

The comments by the railroad, one of three main players in the Mexican freight rail market, provided an unusually frank assessment of the security problems plaguing the country’s logistics industry that surfaced repeatedly at the association’s conference in Santa Fe, Mexico City.

Mexican trucking companies in July urged lawmakers to stiffen penalties against cargo robberies, with a group representing motor carriers saying the escalation of crime this year has turned much of the country’s highways into “no man’s land.” The Cámara Nacional del Autotransporte de Carga, or National Chamber for Cargo Transporters, said it expected the number of highway freight robberies to top 2,400, a 37 percent increase over the figure for 2016.

Past studies have estimated that cargo worth billions of dollars is lost annually in hijackings and robberies. The rail attacks are also notable because some shippers have turned away from trucking to rail on the belief it is more secure because trains are harder to rob and rail theft is a federal crime.

Read the rest at JOC.com

Related: Mexico Train Robberies Said Increasing, and Increasingly Violent (Associated Press)

Related: Mexican Cartels Used Government Data to Kidnap and Extort Avocado Farmers (Newsweek)

Related: 12 Killed in Mexico Violence Between Warring Gangs of Fuel Thieves (Reuters)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!