Trucks are increasingly being stolen for their value as scrap and recycled materials, UK authorities have warned the road haulage industry. Two possible causes have been identified for the rise in truck theft. First is the high prices now paid for scrap metal on the international markets, which is in turn driven partly by China's insatiable demand for metal. Second are the thieves who have realised that almost any part of a truck - wheel hubs, side panels, axles, catalytic converters, plastic
chairs or the gold in the wiring looms - has a recyclable value.
This trend is an interesting counterpoint to the traditional use of trucks to transport valuable items, and also the rather less traditional use of trucks to remove stolen items destined for unscrupulous scrap merchants. Indeed, trucks have been used to remove valuable but heavy items from churches for some time, and two years ago a Mercedes truck was used to steal a two-tonne, £3m sculpture by Henry Moore from a museum in Hertfordshire. Now the trucks are the valuable target rather than the means of transporting it.
The problem was first identified in Canada, where police are continuing to investigate the theft of at least 15 tanker trucks in the past two years. Made
of aluminium or stainless steel, the vehicles are thought to be worth US$51,000 (£25,000) when broken down into their recyclable component parts. Catalytic converters have been removed with cordless reciprocating saws pointed with a stainless steel blade. According to one recycling expert, who asked not to be identified, a competent thief could remove a converter in just six minutes and would be able to sell it for US$75-300 (£36-146).
Many converters are shipped to recycling companies in Poland, Canada, China and Latvia, where they undergo a carbochlorination process that extracts their precious metals. The average catalytic converter contains 1-2g of three precious metals - platinum, palladium, and rhodium. That equals about 0.07oz, meaning 14 or 15 converters are needed to obtain 1oz of the metals.
However, the commodity rates for these metals have skyrocketed in the past two years - rhodium by 600%, platinum by 67% and palladium by 200%. Most of these metals can be recycled indefinitely, according to Waste Watch, an environmental charity, without losing any of their properties, as reprocessing does not damage their structures. The overheads are low too, as, for example, recycling aluminium requires only 5% of the energy needed for primary production.
A spokesman for Daf Trucks says it is unaware of its vehicles being targeted specifically but adds: "I wouldn't be surprised if lorries are being taken in this way, given their increasing residual value." Vince Rich, author of the International Scrap and Recycling Handbook, says thieves could be encouraged by the knowledge that theirs was a crime that was difficult to trace. "A piece of metal cut off is just a piece of metal and very hard to follow," he said. "Potentially everything has a value on the lorry," he says. "It's like carnivores stripping a carcass. Tyres don't usually have a value and you really couldn't get rid of them - but if you have a well co-ordinated operation then you could make a lot of money from this approach. Given the surge in demand from China, that is certainly possible."
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) says its members would be less concerned about the reason for the theft than the fact the phenomenon represented another security threat. "It's a headache from the minute the lorry goes," said Don Armour, manager of fleet information for the FTA. "And it doesn't really matter if it's cut up, put in a box and shipped out within 24 hours or not - but it's better if a vehicle is stolen for its load and then left somewhere where we might just find it." The problem is also hitting mainland Europe, presenting a risk to UK hauliers operating on the Continent. In the past year, thefts of copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel have risen by 144% in France.
For now, road hauliers seem to have little option but to write off their losses. In the United States, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries has attempted to clamp down on some elements of the crime. However, the main initiative - to fingerprint those offering to sell scrap metal to dealers - has foundered on privacy laws. Thieves are, for now at least, able to operate with relative impunity as they target undefended trucks whose companies have never had any need to deal with such a problem. Those tackling the crime admit that the thieves may have stolen a march. "A lot of it goes on but more research needs to be done on it," says Detective Sergeant Andy Round of Truckpol.
"We're quite sure the theft of trucks [for scrap] is happening but it is difficult to gauge the extent of the problem," says Detective Sergeant Andy Round, who heads Truckpol, a national intelligence unit that forms part of the wider ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland) Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service. "We know we get a lot of lorries stolen but whether they are taken for their goods, to be sold on intact or to be broken down is difficult to say."
Truckpol reports that a number of Scania trucks have been stolen from Kent this year and it is thought that recycling thieves may have been responsible. Earlier this summer, a man was arrested and bailed in connection with the theft of catalytic converters from a warehouse in Norwich. And trucks transporting precious metals are also being targeted: a Volvo flatbed was ambushed in Kent and a large copper cable drum removed.
According to Truckpol, 1,610 trucks were stolen in the nine months to September this year, compared with 2,462 in the same period in 2006. But these figures are thought to be misleading, as a number of police forces have stopped supplying details of thefts. Also, it is often not known why these vehicles were stolen and what happened to them after the theft. However, police are sure LGVs are increasingly being sold for recycling. "It's plain common sense that this is happening," said Round. "Part of the problem is the sky-high prices for metal. We're seeing engines, gearboxes, axles and wheels stolen. The penny has dropped with the thieves that there is a market for them. The demand in the Far East for these metals is huge. The big bulk trailers are usually made of aluminium for its lightness but it makes them a target."
The list below shows some of the parts that truck thieves can break down or sell on.
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