Pharmaceuticals, particularly specialty drugs such as immunotherapy products and controlled substances, “are valuable and easy to monetize on the black market, often commanding exorbitant resale values far above their original costs while maintaining a steady demand,” Healy says. “Pharmaceuticals are also small, portable, and relatively easy to resell without immediate detection.” So are everyday goods such as toilet paper, wet wipes, and diapers. “I have seen videos where thieves pull up in a white utility van parked in front of a trailer with the van’s door facing the trailer doors,” Renner says. “They get out, break open the trailer doors, and pilfer some of the shipments by loading them in the van. “The camera on an adjacent truck shows only the van parked in front of the trailer,” he adds. “The thieves are never seen in the video. They are smart and their operations are well thought-out.”
The hot spots for theft are, not surprisingly, the large shipping hubs near popular transportation corridors: South Florida, Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, Houston/Dallas, and the Los Angeles/San Diego corridor. Columbus, Ohio, is a relative newcomer to that list. The number of “danger zones” for theft are increasing. “We tell truckers not to stop for the rst 250 miles after picking up a load, and sometimes that’s not far enough,” Pelli says. “Thieves follow loads 400 to 500 miles, all the way from Los Angeles to the California-Arizona border. “There is one truck stop between California and Arizona; thieves go there and wait,” he adds. A GROWING PROBLEM Theft and fraud are on the rise for many reasons, with nancial concerns at the top of the list. “Number one is economic pressure,” Jonkman says, rst caused by the
pandemic and subsequent economic downturns, and since followed by supply chain disruptions and the recent rise in in ation. That has led to a jump in food and beverage theft because these products are quickly and easily resold on secondary markets at far cheaper prices. An increase in organized and advanced crime techniques is also to blame for both fraud and theft. “Historically, most incidents involved criminals breaking into or stealing parked trailers,” Sandager says. “Today, however, organized crime rings engage in tactics such as pilfering pallets, holding entire loads for ransom, and in ltrating digital networks.” Digitalization is a double-edged sword. On the plus side, 86% of cargo owners see digitalization as a remarkably helpful tool for operational ef ciency, nds the Digital Container Shipping Association’s State of the Industry Report 2024 .
2024 Cargo Theft Trends
776 Theft Incident Reports
Top Targeted Commodity Types
Top 3 Targeted States Represented 52% of all Theft in Q3 2024 California | Texas | Illinois
Food and Beverage
Top Targeted Location Types
2
1
3
Warehouse/ Distribution Center
Electronics
Total Loss Value $ 39,369,208
Truck Stop
Source: CargoNet
112 Inbound Logistics • January 2025
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