CARGO THEFT

Cory Seale
 CARGO THEFT
• What is high-valued cargo?
• A high dollar value of an entire load, also includes items with extraordinary
values beyond the customary few dollars per pound. The “Household Goods
Mover Association” lists any item with a value of $100 per pound or greater as a
high valued item.
• Newer entrants such as designer wearing apparel and trendy athletic
wear.
• How much can a trailer/container actually hold?
• Over 5,000 women's garments
• Over 1000 cartons containing 10,000 pairs of shoes
 HOW LARGE IS THE
CARGO THEFT
PROBLEM?
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates report domestic cargo theft at over
$4.0 billion annually.

• It is speculated that only 40% of all cargo theft is actually reported, meaning that a
truer annual estimate may approach $10.0 billion.
 CARGO THEFT HAS
BECOME ATTRACTIVE
TARGET FOR BOTH
ORGANIZED AND
OPPORTUNISTIC CRIME
• Retail goods are vulnerable at various points throughout the supply chain.
• Goods that are stolen from either cargo trucks or from retail stores are usually fenced for
a profit.
• Trucks of cargo often travel with large quantities of desirable products.
• This presents a low-risk, high-reward situation appealing to criminals.
 BUT HOW?

• Thieves use a variety of methods to obtain merchandise from cargo.

• Hijacking entire trucks.
• Colluding with a current or former employee.
• Break or compromise security locks on trucks to remove entire cartons of
merchandise.
• Pilfer cargo boxes of their goods and then reseal them so the boxes appear as
though they have not been tampered with.
• According to the National Retail Federation’s 2012 survey on ORC, over half of the
survey respondents (52.1%) reported being a victim of cargo theft within the past
year.
WHAT IS CAUSING THE
INCREASE IN
CARGO
THEFT?

• Law enforcement and most courts view cargo theft as a 'victimless

crime‘.
• Forcing retailers to correct the issues.
• It is not a specific statutory crime, rather it is either larceny, burglary or
robbery depending upon the circumstances.
EFFECTIVE MEANS TO
REDUCING
CARGO THEFT?
 Increased spending on security programs leads to a direct reduction in the numbers
of losses.
 It is estimated that frequency has dropped as much as 50%.
 Make a rule which will require all trailers to be locked.
 Utilization of tamper proof tape.
 Instituting serialized seals on doors between routes.
 GPS
• GPS is a technology that is capable of identifying the location of something - in
this case cargo in transit. Someone must monitor the received signals to
determine if a door has been opened at an unauthorized location, or the truck
has deviated from its intended route. GPS combines the advantages of time
and location.
 PRIMARY
LOCATION(S) OF
LOSS
• Pre-shipment
• In Transit - more specifically those when the cargo is
stopped but should still be en route.
• Upon Delivery

• Most of these thefts occurred:

 En route from the distribution center to the store

(68.1%).
 En route from the manufacturer to the distribution center
 En route from one store to another
 PACKING
• The shipper should pack the goods in well-constructed packaging. High value cargo
should be generally placed in labeled and taped cartons. However, because of size and
weight limitations, cartons are quite portable, thus easy to carry, but does offer a defense
against pilferage.
• There are a number of things that can be done to improve the situation:
 A shipper should take advantage of tamper-evident technology in the form of
tamper-
evident tape, special security banding straps or security seals.
 A shipper should consider consolidating by shrink-wrapping or containerizing the
shipment.
 MARKING

• Exterior markings on the cartons are essential to facilitate shipment routing

and delivery, too much information can be bad though. Logos, recognizable
trademarks or marks listing the contents should be avoided and replaced
with blind or coded marks.
 EXAMPLES
• Double taped Nautica merchandise
 CONCERNS

• The five cartons shown above came from one delivery.

• Cartons could have easily been pilfered.
• If security tape is cut and re-taped without security tape at the SDC for ticketing then
what is the point?
 KENNETH COLE
WATCHES

Double taped

Removed from cover, obviously looked at.

 CONCLUSION
• Significant losses often go unreported, particularly for those industries fearful of market
reaction. This veil of silence actually aids the 'bad guys.'
• Law enforcement personnel believe cargo thefts generally increase when the economy
improves and demand exceeds supply. The FBI contends in a 2002 study that theft and the
state of the economy are inversely related. Therefore, there appears to be no 'safe' period for
the shipper, and complacency seems to be an invitation for theft.
• "If the goods cannot be easily moved [fenced], they are not stolen". - gives one a false sense of
security. In reality, there appears to be a market for just about every type of goods or
merchandise in transit.
• Most thefts of high-valued goods are due to 'inside' informants.
• Effective loss prevention generally involves increased time and labor expense, and possibly
additional paperwork. While it adds to the per-unit cost, it also has a positive impact on the
bottom line as well as customer satisfaction.
• Dealing with a theft loss is an unproductive use of valuable resources.
 REFERENCE
•
S
Organized Retail Crime Annual Report 2008: Describing a Major Problem, pp. 17-18.
• Ibid., Walter E. Palmer and Chris Richardson, Organized Retail Crime: Assessing the Risk
and Developing Effective Strategies, ASIS Foundation Research Council, 2009, p. 14.
• National Retail Federation, 2012 Organized Retail Crime Survey, 2012, p. 9.
• Theft of High Valued Goods: An Overview of Exposures, Loss Prevention and
Underwriting Concerns, IMUA Transportation Committee 2003.