Opinion: Is Cargo Insurance Enough Protection?

By Tom Mann

President

TrakLok International

As today’s trucking owners know, it is tough to manage many requirements with limited resources. A lot of competing financial issues face transportation companies, but unfortunately, not all of these needs are within your control. Personnel costs, equipment payments, fuel bills, etc., all compete for your limited financial resources.

Regulatory costs, business taxes, insurance and other operating costs are mandated. They leave a business owner with reduced resources for operating expenses and conflicting needs for discretionary spending. The amount of resources available to protect your customer’s cargo is one of these discretionary conundrums.

In a perfect world, the protection and movement of customer’s cargo would be your No. 1 priority. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Regulatory requirements, maintaining and training staff and managing expenses must take higher priority in daily operations. However, your business can follow a few procedures to help protect the most important commodity that your customers have entrusted to you, their cargo.

Loads at Rest

Statistics show repeatedly that cargo is at greatest risk while it is at rest. While hijacking is common in other countries, the greatest risk for cargo in the United States is when it is at rest and unattended.

• Utilize secure lots providing sufficient barriers to prevent theft or unauthorized access. For example, the compound should have a chain-link fence of 9-gauge material at least 8 feet high and topped with barbed wire, and it should be properly anchored.

• Close truck doors before entering the lot so that surveillance efforts cannot see what has been loaded onto trailers.

• Employ a gate guard in high-risk areas.

• Use security equipment to secure trailers while they are being staged: king-pin locks, landing-gear locks and, most important, electronic security locks with active alarm systems installed on cargo doors.

To Be Safe on the Road

• Ensure that a “red zone” of at least 250 miles is implemented. The red zone is the distance the driver travels but does not stop after a pickup. Drivers should be rested, have available driving hours remaining, with trucks fueled, and take care of all personal needs before a pickup, so they can implement a red zone effectively.

• Report of any “out of norm” occurrences while loading the trailer or while a shipment is in transit. Drivers should notify dispatch during extended stops at areas such as truck stops and rest areas.

• Drivers and warehouse workers should not discuss with anyone any details about loads — specific drop locations, routes and contents.

• Consider a no-drop policy when the trailer has cargo; keep the trailer married to the tractor so that the tractor and trailer can be secured.

• Use effective access control equipment to maintain integrity while the shipment is in transit, such as electronically monitored locks that include a tamper detection alarm system and GPS tracking affixed to the trailer doors.

Additional Security Procedures

• Implement regular security briefings to train drivers on surveillance techniques and protocols to follow if they detect suspicious activities.

• Properly vet all new drivers and limit the value of the cargo they carry until they have passed a probationary period.

• Make sure drivers have contact phone numbers, a list of cargo and equipment information in a secondary location so they are quickly available to law enforcement.

• Employ a tracking system that includes active and passive alarm systems.

• Utilize a rugged locking system that will notify the driver of any attempts to breach the trailer door.

• Conduct regular security audits, with a third-party company, if possible. These audits should be used to test both the resilience of and adherence to security measures.

• Join and regularly attend local and regional security council meetings.

Right-Size Your Security

Similar to a facility security, build your system around the value and risk of the commodity you are attempting to protect. High-

target shipments should warrant additional security measures that may not be cost-effective or practical for lower-value cargo. For high-target shipments, employ many layers of security to dissuade or delay cargo thieves.

High-Target Security

• 24-hour guard service at storage lots.

• Team drivers trained in security measures.

• Escorts for partial or full transit.

• Locking systems that transmit alarms to security personnel.

• Geotunneling of specific routes to be taken.

While cargo insurance is a regulated and necessary part of your business, following these voluntary security measures may provide your customers with a much higher level of service.

Recovering stolen cargo is an important mission of the industry, but additional resources spent on prevention may be a wiser long-term investment. Savvy transportation company owners can use heightened security measures to attract and keep customers by protecting what they really care about, the safe movement of their cargo.

TrakLok International provides transportation companies shipping high-target food or specialty cargo with an integrated access control, GPS tracking and remote alarm/alert system.