Cargo Theft In USA: A $30 billion racket

Each Year billion dollars’ worth of cargo is transported throughout America by ships, aircrafts and trucks. Many a times this freight falls prey to the cargo thieves before it could reach its rightful owner. Cargo theft is solely causing around $30 billion worth of loss to industries in the USA annually.

Cargo Thieves

Most of these groups target the high priced and easy to sell items. The cargo thieves are already tipped off regarding the upcoming shipments. 80-90% of the theft occur when the cargo is left unguarded. Cargo thieves use sophisticated techniques and are specially trained to unload the cargo in record time. Many a times there are instances where the thieves run away with the vehicle itself. This stolen merchandise is further sold to a wholesale buyer or sometimes it is exported to neighboring countries.

How Are People Affected ?

Cargo theft has a direct effect on the consumers. To understand the effect, let’s take an example of small town X in USA that depends on delivery trucks for transporting the food to their town. If the food items in this truck are stolen by some criminal group before it reaches town, then this directly affects the people of the town as there is a shortage in supply of food which consequently results in increase in food prices. It has been a huge problem in South American countries like Venezuela where poor population is resorting to cargo theft due to acute shortage of food in their country.

Port Cities: Most of the cargo thefts occur in the port cities as thousands of containers are unloaded and transported every single day.

Trailers Emptied: Many cargo thefts occur at truck stops and parking lots, these trailers are emptied in a matter of seconds. The driver gets very less time to react.

Top Sates: California, Texas, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia are the top 5 locations for cargo theft. 7 out of 10 incidences occur in these states.

Statistics: 80-90% of the thefts occur when the cargo is left unwatched or abandoned. Thieves want to avoid the unnecessary troubles that come through hijacking the truck.

Cargo Items: Food/Electronics are the most stolen cargo items as there is a huge demand for them.

How to prevent it?

These following techniques could be very beneficial to prevent cargo theft:

Don’t share information regarding your cargo with anyone and use alternate/unpredictable routes while travelling.

Don’t park your vehicle in unsecured and isolated areas.

Use GPS tracking devices to identify and locate your vehicle.

Before leaving the vehicle, make sure the back doors are sealed, locked properly.

Use high quality locks and security tools to guard your cargo.

Drivers should be quick to respond against any theft as prompt actions increase the chances of retrieving back the stolen cargo.

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