2016 Cargo Thefts Hit $114 Million; Food, Drinks, Electronics Top Targets

Cargo thefts fell for the third consecutive year, but the value of the stolen goods vaulted 13.3% to $114 million, according to CargoNet.

There were 1,614 incidents in the United States, including cargo theft, heavy commercial vehicle theft and supply chain fraud, the annual data show. Thieves stole cargo in 836 of those cases with an average value of the contents of almost $207,000 (based on the 554 thefts with an assigned value).

That represented a 7.7% decline in cases from 2015 and a 10% drop since 2014. The other 282 cases didn’t include a value for the cargo.

However, the total value of the stolen cargo, $114 million, is greater than the $100.5 million in 2015 and $94 million in 2014.

“The numbers indicate that the police believe in the system and are reporting incidents while also cracking down on cargo theft,” said Anthony Canale, general manager at CargoNet. He warned that the fluctuations in the number of incidents are due, in part, to greater awareness and more reporting.

The top three states for cargo thefts in 2016 were California with 228 incidents, Texas with 135 and New Jersey with 73. California and New Jersey are home to the three largest container ports in North America and Texas is at the center of cross-border freight between Mexico and the United States.

Food and beverages remain the most common stolen cargo, electronics were second.

Scott Cornell, crime and theft specialist for insurance company Travelers’ Transportation business, said his 10 investigators witnessed a spike in electronics thefts in Santa Ana and Santa Barbara, California, in the fourth quarter. His special investigations unit also reported a decrease in criminals using elaborate rouses and an increase in straight thefts involving tractor-trailers.

“Law enforcement has done an outstanding job responding to strategic cargo theft. But it’s like playing whack-a-mole. Not only will the groups pop up in different areas, but cargo thieves will bob and weave away from where the attention is from the police and private industry,” he said.

Nick Erdmann, business development manager at Transport Security Inc., suggested trucking companies have many layers of security that are regularly updated because there’s no single solution.

“It’s important to slow the cargo thieves down and establish countermeasures for new tactics. There are a lot of trucking companies that are unaware of the problem and should be networking with their local police and industry task forces,” he said.

Range Logistics tackles the problem with clients as a third-party logistics provider and freight broker based in St. Louis. Nathan Chew, president of supply chain solutions, said cargo thieves are getting smarter every day, but many cargo thieves can be caught before it’s too late.

Quick thinking prevented his company from being a victim four months ago, Chew said. A man stole information from a legitimate Michigan trucking and brokerage company and passed himself off as an employee. He received authorization to work with Range Logistics after using the stolen data.

Range Logistics assigned him a job that he rebrokered to an unwitting truck driver. But the logistics company became suspicious because the man was fixated on receiving a fuel allowance advance.

“We called the warehouse, and the guy went out to the driver and determined he wasn’t with the trucking company out of Michigan. That’s when we said stop, something is not right here,” Chew said. “If we hadn’t taken that extra step of a phone call, we would’ve been a victim.”

In this case, Chew believes the culprit would’ve kept the money and ceased communication with the driver hauling the stolen cargo. The mysterious would-be thief deactivated his phones and e-mail when the plan failed.

Fictitious pickups continue to plague the entire supply chain and are a point of emphasis for NFI, a motor carrier, warehousing company and freight broker.

“NFI immediately disseminates any information it receives regarding identifiers of known suspects to the teams so that they can take the appropriate steps to not use them. If we cannot confirm the carrier, NFI will not use them,” said Sandor Lengyel, director of security. “Our drivers and warehouse personnel are trained to continually remain vigilant, spotting potential issues surrounding facilities and while in transit. Educating our employees is the most important thing we can do.”

Daniel Day, director of security and risk management at Kenco Group, told Transport Topics that there were zero cargo thefts at its 90-plus warehouses in the United States. He said some cargo thieves will stake out a warehouse to watch the trucks or find weaknesses in security.

“I’m not saying it hasn’t happened at one of our facilities, but I can tell you we have a robust countersurveillance program in place to spot them,” Day said.

NFI, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, ranks No. 15 on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest logistics companies in North America and No. 27 on the for-hire TT100. Kenco, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ranks No. 25 on the TT logistics 50.