As we highlighted in the first blog in our four part Supply Chain series, the National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security was created in 2012 to help pave a productive path forward in resolving today’s global supply chain challenges.
The Strategy’s mission is focused on two primary goals – to promote the timely and efficient flow of legitimate commerce while protecting and securing the supply chain from exploitation and reducing its vulnerability to disruption. And,
to foster a global supply chain system that’s prepared for and can withstand evolving threats and hazards and that can recover rapidly from disruptions. To achieve this, they prioritize efforts to mitigate systemic vulnerabilities and refine plans to reconstitute the flow of commerce after disruptions.
The continuous operation of the global supply chain depends on several modes of transportation – Air, Land, and Sea. Here we take a look at some of the most prevalent security trends – and threats – that can impact the supply chain in land transportation.
Transportation in a supply chain refers to the movement of products from one location to another. This begins at the start of the supply chain as goods and materials are moved to a warehouse and continues all the way through to the end user when the customer’s order is delivered.
Within the freight industry, security concerns typically center around theft, which ranks as one of the most pressing problems freight terminals face, especially those where high-value goods are being handled.
According to FreightWatch International, most of the cargo theft in the U.S. occurs in gateway areas, particularly around Los Angeles, New York / New Jersey and South Florida. They report that electronics and food & beverages account for the majority of the thefts, since these types of cargo readily find purchasers on the black market. Pharmaceuticals also have a very high theft value. Truck stops and unsecured facilities account for the dominant locations where thefts are taking place.
The need for heightened security at our nation’s freight terminals is clear. Implementing physical security solutions can go a long way towards deterring crime within the transportation supply chain. Video surveillance solutions are helping to mitigate land transportation vulnerabilities markedly. The use of multi-sensor cameras which are equipped with four or more individual lenses and image sensors are providing monitoring operators with multiple detailed views of footage with 180° panoramic coverage. Video surveillance solutions are not only deterring crime but also proving instrumental in bringing perpetrators to justice.
Controlling who can – and cannot – gain access to freight terminals is also critically important to transportation security. Keeping unauthorized people out can be accomplished with a highly secure access control system such as one that uses biometric card credentialing. Biometric card credentials contain an embedded sensor that captures then matches the cardholder’s fingerprint to the digital template stored on the card. This provides more security than a traditional Prox card credential, which can be lost or stolen. Biometric data can’t be duplicated, which is important for cargo facilities because of the cast amount of people coming and going all the time. Access credentials can be assigned to workers based on the areas they’re authorized to enter. And the audit trails that an electronic access control systems can generate are especially helpful in ascertaining who went where – and when.
Additional security solutions, such as perimeter protection, intrusion detection, mass notification systems and more also further harden security in transportation hub settings. Turning to the expertise of a trusted security integration partner can dramatically enhance land transportation security against illegal transport of passengers and goods such as counterfeits, narcotics and weapons, and of persons. NextGen is deeply experienced in transportation security and can provide the solutions you need to help you better protect your facility and operations. Call on us today.