This put up is a part of a collection sponsored by IAT Insurance coverage Group.
Cargo theft stays a distinguished menace to the transportation trade. In a single high-profile case in 2022, three Florida males stole roughly $9 million value of beef and pork from refrigerated vehicles that had left meatpacking vegetation within the Midwest and Nice Plains over the course of a 12 months.
Within the second half of 2022, reviews of cargo theft and fraud rose 27% year-over-year.[1] Parking heaps and truck stops are the commonest location for cargo theft incidents however secured yards aren’t immune from cargo theft.1 Though family items and meals merchandise stay widespread targets, higher-value items, reminiscent of autos, electronics and prescribed drugs are also steadily focused.[2]
The 4 commonest cargo theft eventualities embrace:
- Purple zones: Areas with ports and main interstate junctions proceed to be hotspots for criminals, together with California, Texas, Georgia, Florida and Illinois.1
- Hijacking: Criminals are getting bolder, taking alternatives to steal cargo and even hijacking gear at truck stops, relaxation areas and gasoline islands when drivers are refueling, utilizing the amenities and whereas taking an hours of service (HOS) break.
- Inside jobs: An worker with detailed information of the cargo together with the origin and vacation spot factors is aware of when and the place a high-value cargo could also be susceptible and have tipped off an outsider on these particulars as a way to facilitate a theft.
- Organized crime: Organized teams of criminals have subtle methods in place to perform cargo heists, as demonstrated within the beef and pork heists talked about above.
7 finest practices to guard your hundreds
As cargo theft continues to develop and evolve, firms can implement defensive measures to mitigate losses, together with the next:
- Use GPS monitoring for energy models and trailers. Transportable monitoring gadgets will help find a stolen automobile or lacking trailer. Nonetheless, this isn’t an all-encompassing resolution, as they are often disabled in varied methods or the sign may be blocked
- Implement cargo monitoring. Devoted cargo trackers may be included with load contents, providing an opportunity to trace stolen merchandise wherever they go. Shipments of high-value attire or pharmaceutical objects, for instance, could use these, that are extra dependable than their GPS cousins as a result of they use mobile phone expertise. They’re additionally extra expensive. Prices may be minimized by including trackers to a choose variety of merchandise (not all of them), as criminals sometimes steal in batches. Use sufficient trackers in merchandise that at the least one tracker will probably be taken in a batch of stolen product.
- Put skilled drivers in your higher-value hundreds. Use trusted drivers, those that have hauled quite a lot of hundreds together with excessive worth hundreds, and those that perceive the procedures taken to maintain their cargo, gear and most significantly, themselves away from hurt. Work as a group with the motive force previous to loading, reminding them of the additional procedures that ought to be taken on these kinds of hundreds.
- Plan your routes. Remind drivers to keep away from pink zones and excessive crime-rate areas, notably when stopping or parking. Drivers ought to have a minimal of 200 miles value of gasoline and sufficient hours of service to journey that distance earlier than selecting up a load. This will help to cut back stops and thieves could turn out to be disenchanted with the cargo because it will get previous their goal zone.
- Prepare your drivers. Guarantee drivers know that vehicles and trailers ought to be locked and sealed, and that they need to establish secure, well-lit parking areas earlier than leaving the automobile. Further measures embrace positioning the trailer to a construction to forestall the doorways from being opened. Look ahead to autos following the truck and don’t talk about the cargo with others both — on the telephone or over the CB radio.
- Make use of good hiring practices and leverage background checks. Good hiring practices ought to prolong to dispatchers, hundreds planners, warehouse and dock employees, not simply drivers. Notice that warehouse employees don’t must know the routes drivers take to succeed in their vacation spot, which might additional defend a load from potential theft.
- Buy enough cargo protection. Corporations ought to decide if they’ve the correct quantity of cargo insurance coverage, particularly as the price of items rise. Work together with your insurance coverage agent to treatment gaps, and think about using a cargo rider for particular, high-value hundreds. Regulate your protection as enterprise scales up or winds down, or your product combine modifications.
Solely a small share of cargo thieves are caught and prosecuted. And solely a small share of stolen cargo is ever recovered. Many legislation enforcement groups should not have the manpower to dedicate to these kinds of instances over higher-profile crimes. Taking steps to make hundreds much less enticing and tougher to steal, will help to cut back cargo theft.
For extra data on defending towards the specter of cargo theft, contact IAT.
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[1] Verisk “Winter Vacation Cargo Theft Tendencies and Safety Finest Practices 2022,” December 16, 2022.
[2] Enterprise Insurance coverage “Cargo losses escalate as thieves goal vehicles, electronics,” Might 31, 2022.
Subjects
Fraud
Trucking
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