Since the early 1990s, we have frequently been involved in investigations of cargo misappropriation, where large parcels of goods have suddenly disappeared from warehouses. In some cases, the company responsible for storing the goods has sold the cargo. In other cases, the goods have been stored in such a way that they appear to be present, while official records indicate that they are still in storage.

Commodities such as grain, oil products and metals are particularly vulnerable to misappropriation because they are difficult to identify.

Unexpected market changes, economic downturns, Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes can also reveal misappropriation when insureds demand delivery of their cargo only to find that a significant problem has been hidden for a much longer period.

We have been involved in many large to very large cargo theft cases in countries such as Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Liberia, Zambia, South Africa, Brazil, Paraguay, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. We have also assisted with such claims in Western European countries including Spain, Italy and the UK.

Our on-site investigations often lead to unexpected results, revealing that the circumstances were different from those originally thought and that several parties may be responsible for the loss of the cargo, or that the cargo was never actually stored. We conduct thorough on-site investigations to gain a full understanding of the physical and documentary checks carried out before and after the purchase of the cargo, the supervision during the storage period and other circumstances surrounding the misappropriation. Once the facts are clear, we recommend preventive measures to avoid similar incidents in the future.