NEWS & INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Cargo theft: Is your freight at risk?
A suspected crew of cargo thieves followed a truck from a local warehouse. The truck didn’t go far, parking just a couple of miles away. Detective Gerardo A. Pachuca of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Cargo Criminal Apprehension Team (Cargo CATs) had the crew under surveillance. He reached out to the driver to let him know the thieves were tracking him — that shipment remained safe. The following week on the same route, and same parking lot, the trailer was left unattended. The thieves had their window. They took the entire trailer.
In the same article by Transport Topics, Pachuca warned about the sophistication level of cargo thieves. They are organized often working as a crew, where they stake out specific goods and their corresponding warehouses. Here’s what you should know.
Food and beverage freight is at the highest risk of theft
The joint 2018 Semi-Annual Global Cargo Theft Intelligence and Advisory Report published by the TT Club, leading provider of insurance and related risk management services for the logistics industry, and BSI Supply Chain Services, leading global provider of supply chain intelligence, auditing services, audit and risk management compliance solutions and advisory services, revealed large growth in cargo theft and crime, reporting 24 percent of global cargo theft resulted from violent truck hijackings, with 27 percent of those incidents targeting food and beverage.
North American cargo theft statistics
Credit: 2018 Semi-Annual Global Cargo Theft Intelligence and Advisory Report
- 38 percent of thefts are by hijacking with theft of vehicle 25 percent
- 82 percent of theft occurs in the truck modality compared to less than 7 percent by rail
- Food and beverage are 34 percent of the stolen commodities, consumer products 18 percent
- 66 percent of theft happens while cargo is in-transit and 11 percent while in warehouse
- Mexico is top North American country for theft at 69 percent of all incidents, U.S. 22 percent
Cargo theft sophistication is evolving
Scott Cornell leads Travelers Insurance transportation business and helped create its cargo theft investigation unit more than a decade ago. In this recent article, he talked through strategic cargo theft, which employs deceit and results in carriers and shippers unknowingly handing over their loads.
These thieves may pose as a carrier or broker, finding their target commodities and companies by matching them with the location of available cargo on public load boards. To steal the identity of legitimate carriers or brokers and bid on these loads, they may have posted fictitious loads where they can capture legitimate credentials during the bid process.
Friday afternoons, when companies are most pressured to get freight off the dock, may present the highest risk of falling victim to this strategy. The thieves hope the stress of getting the freight moving may lead to less scrutiny of credentials at pickup.
From double-brokering scams to all-out deception, shippers need to be cautious and aware. Cornell provided practices for shippers to help protect against strategic cargo theft including, “Work only with legitimate and licensed brokers that have strong controls in place for vetting carriers, ensuring their legitimacy and protecting cargo security.”
Are there additional safety procedures you should consider for your freight? Give us a call at 877.367.2324 or email us at inquiry@agforcets.com. We can talk about your current processes and identify risk. Let’s prevent cargo theft, together.
