Cargo theft appeared to be down somewhat for the three-month period of March, April and May compared to last year, according to FreightWatch International, although the May numbers for two of the most highly targeted states are still pending.


FreightWatch recorded 185 incidents from March to May, a down from the 215 incidents recorded for the same period in 2010. April recorded the highest number of incidents with 74 thefts, followed by March, 64, and May, 39 (reports from California and New Jersey still pending).

There was a 50% increase in the number of thefts involving multiple trailers stolen during a single incident compared with the same period in 2010. The average number of stolen trailer during multi-theft incidents increased from 2 to 3 trailers/containers.

The top five states for cargo theft for the period were California, 43, Florida, 30, Georgia, 16, New Jersey, 14, and Texas, 11. In California, the counties accounting for the highest amount of thefts were Los Angeles, 15, San Bernardino, 8, Orange, 6, and Riverside, 5. In the state of Florida, Miami-Dade reported the highest amount of thefts.

From all thefts recorded from March to April, 85% were theft of trailers, 64% occurred at unsecured parking lots and 22% at secured parking lots. Theft from containers was the second most common type of theft at 5%.

Building/Industrial, Electronics and Food/Drinks were the most targeted product types. Within these categories, the most targeted products were copper, steel, aluminum, laptops, televisions, computers, audio equipment, chicken, beef, candy and frozen food.

By day of the week, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were the days with the highest cargo theft activity during the time period under study.

The number of deceptive pickups and thefts by drivers were high in April. Throughout Easter holiday an organized gang with fraudulent identification credentials of a trucking company stole multiple loads from different companies, which total value exceeds $1.2 million. The increase in fraudulent pickups during April was evident in Florida, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey and New York.

Also in April, a cargo theft gang was identified operating in Kentucky and Ohio responsible for multiple thefts in the Louisville area.

For more on cargo theft, see the July issue of Heavy Duty Trucking magazine.