Certification of Hauliers for Transportation of High-Value Cargo

DPS March is dedicated to providing effective certification services for hauliers before they are contracted to transport High-Value Cargo (HVC) for mining companies, or their contracted Logistics Service Provider (LSP), to transhipment ports within Southern Africa for export abroad. In this way, the risk of theft of HVC is mitigated. 

DPS March (Africa) has 30 years of extensive experience in the investigation of HVC thefts and risk management assessments on behalf of Lloyds of London and, international Insurers of mining companies, as well as LSPs and HVC owners in the region. The company has set the benchmark in security standards for HVC in transit in the SADC region through its Haulier Certification Service.

Haulier Certification 

Introduced in 2010, DPS March’s Haulier Certification Service meets the need for cargo owners, freight forwarders and cargo insurers to identify responsible hauliers who can better safeguard their HVC in transit. The DPS March-certified contracted hauliers strictly operate to a prescribed code of security standards to mitigate theft, hijacking and / or driver ‘handovers‘ of HVC.

Mining companies and commodity trading companies, together with their appointed LSPs, are among the biggest clients of DPS March. Through engaging DPS March-certified hauliers, mining companies and traders considerably enhance the prospects of their high-value non-ferrous metals and other products reaching their destination securely.

Because of prevailing conditions in the present economic environment, DPS March is advising mining companies and other clients that contracting certified hauliers is more imperative than ever.

Economic hardships, high risks

Currently, there are economic hardships in the SADC region, due to international geopolitical events, as well as poor governance in some countries. Usually, under these conditions, facing hardships, people seek the easy way out of making ends meet and turn to crime.

Even employees of big transport companies, such as drivers, can fall into the temptation of colluding with criminal syndicates to steal the goods they carry. The common modus operandi is driver ‘handovers’, whereby the driver of a loaded truck and trailer combination is corrupted through a financial inducement into handing over his load to thieves.

Evidently, in the current economic climate, there is an elevated level of safety and security risk in the transportation of HVC. A case in point is the N3 Highway to the Port of Durban, where arson attacks and looting of trucks carrying HVC have been reported.

Thus, cargo owners, in this context mining companies and / or LSPs, must be very circumspect by enhancing measures to safeguard their invaluable assets, and engaging certified hauliers should be a fundamental practice.

 Sparing no effort 

Given the challenges mining companies are facing, in a brief to Mining Business Africa, the team at DPS March pronounce their commitment to meeting the need for reliable and responsible hauliers, as they have been consistently doing in the past years.

Typically, DPS March spares no effort in carrying out rigorous steps to certify the competence and integrity of hauliers as well as the inspection and Risk Management of Transhipment Depots. All parties who bear the risk of handling the HVCs are engaged –  hauliers, mining companies (owners of HVC), owners or administrators of freight forwarding companies, and insurance companies. Ultimately, they all benefit from the know-how of the seasoned DPS March team enormously.

• Competence and integrity of Hauliers

DPS March undertakes a certification process, as well as ensuring that the haulier stays compliant for the duration of the certification. The certification process covers a broad scope. Some of the areas include driver vetting and recruitment, driving in convoys, levels of experience of directors/senior managers, references from reputable clients of hauliers, and history and claims records of cargo losses arising from accidents or thefts within the last three years.

Furthermore, annually, regular verification of responsible hauliers is carried out. This is aimed at maintaining current data on a haulier’s continued adherence and compliance to the prescribed code of security, hence, suitability to continue transporting High Value and ‘thief attractive’ Cargo. 

•       Inspection and risk management of transhipment depots 

Another critical step is the inspection and risk management of transhipment depots of HVC and commodities to minimise the risk of thefts or robberies. This is aimed at, amongst other things, preventing the malpractice of the surreptitious substitution and theft of containerised HVC and commodities after their loading and sealing for onward shipment, whilst leaving the shipping line seal seemingly intact.

Particularly, some of the areas of focus during an inspection and risk assessment include the following:

• Inspection of physical security of depot, including perimeter walls, access/exit control points, deployment of security guards/dogs, warehouse intruder alarm systems and CCTV surveillance cameras ; and
• Daily inventories on high-value cargo; and
• Procedures to verify loaded cargo specs and quantum, as well as correct loading and security procedures; and
• Examination of access and exit control procedures for pedestrians and vehicular traffic.

Enormous benefits 

Ultimately, DPS March Certification benefits all stakeholders – hauliers, cargo owners (mining companies or commodity brokers), freight forwarders and insurance companies (underwriters).

•       Hauliers

Amongst others, hauliers benefit from the enhancement of reputation, potential for increased volumes of jobs/assignments, and better vetting of drivers, and adherence to tried and tested security protocols whilst in transit .

•       Cargo owners

Mainly, cargo owners benefit from the easier selection of DPS March Certified Hauliers, as well as the means of verifying arriving trucks and drivers to load cargo and elimination of risk from loading bogus trucks and drivers.

•       Freight forwarders/clearing agents

For Freight forwarders/clearing agents, it serves as a means of easier selection of DPS March Certified Hauliers and identifying potentially undesirable hauliers, above and beyond, ensuring greater transparency on drivers, trucks and trailers assigned by contracted hauliers, just to cite a few.

•       Insurance companies/underwriters

The value for insurance companies/underwriters is in the following areas: Easier confirmation of DPS March Certified hauliers; Means of scrutinising claims/loss record of new or existing Insured Parties; Means of verifying fleet size and registered truck and trailers of Insured Parties against those declared; and determining a benchmark for Insured Party’s qualification for premium discounts / preferential rates.

Committed to rendering effective services

In general, the team at DPS March recognise the scale of challenges that mining companies are confronted with to ensure the safety and security of their HVC in the current economic climate. And so, adequately resourced, they reiterate their commitment to rendering effective certification solutions to mitigate the risk of theft and enhancing the prospect of their HVC reaching their intended destination.