Cargo theft is evolving at a rapid pace. Businesses are confronted with highly coordinated, tech-enabled cargo criminals, typically organized retail crime, who are coordinating in large groups to exploit every vulnerability across the supply chain, stealing larger shipments and attacking cargo carriers more frequently. Fortunately, many businesses have evolved with these bad actors, but questions remain: have they evolved enough? And where do leaders in the cargo theft prevention space see opportunity for improvement?
SmartSense’s latest study, compiled from a poll of 150 U.S.-based loss and organized retail crime (ORC) prevention leaders, explores the state of cargo theft from those responsible for combating it. Among the group polled:
- 81% believe cargo theft has become more organized in recent years;
- 81% say it has grown more sophisticated;
- 81% say organized retail crime (ORC) is a growing concern for their organization;
- 63% say cargo theft incidents have increased compared with last year;
- 79% say their organization is more concerned about cargo theft than ever before.
As cargo thieves turn up the heat, organizations are feeling the impact everywhere: their operations, their bottom lines and their customer approval ratings. As organizations grapple with increasingly advanced and diverse cargo crime, this study further explores the tactics driving cargo theft, the financial impact on businesses and the strategies leaders believe are most effective for reducing risk.
Cargo theft is a more sophisticated criminal enterprise
Veterans who have waged the war on cargo theft for the longest provide the clearest warning about where the problem is headed. Among respondents with 15 or more years in their roles, 75% point to technology-enabled fraud as a factor behind rising cargo theft, compared with 58% overall. They are also more likely to cite increasingly sophisticated, organized criminal networks and limited supply chain visibility.
Among the full respondent group, the most widespread concerns were fraudulent pickups and carrier impersonation (78%), GPS jamming and spoofing (71%), trailer theft (66%) and double brokering (64%).
For some of the largest organizations, those risks are even more pronounced:
- 94% of companies with $1 billion to $4.9 billion in annual revenue are concerned about fraudulent pickups and carrier impersonation;
- This concern is similar among those with $5 billion to $9.9 billion at 93%;
- Among the latter group, 93% are also concerned about double brokering.
The data paints a clear but troubling picture: cargo thieves are teaming up to take down U.S. supply chain defenses with every tactic in the book.
Stolen cargo is a multimillion-dollar business problem
The cost of cargo theft is substantial, and it doesn't stop at the value of the goods that disappear.
- 40% of respondents report losing at least $1 million annually to cargo theft, and 28% lose $2 million or more
- Businesses generating at least $1 billion in annual revenue are three times more likely to report that they lose over $5 million annually to cargo theft
- 80% of veterans with 15+ years in their role report annual losses of $2 million or more
The lost value of the stolen goods is only part of the story. Cargo theft can quickly become missed sales and brand damage.
Respondents noted that cargo theft incidents have contributed to: Lost sales (80%); inventory value, customer churn and delayed deliveries (73%); lost employee productivity (68%); damaged brand reputation (67%); operational disruption (66%); and stockouts (51%).
This rippling financial impact is significant, so it’s not surprising that 70% say their organizations are investing more this year in cargo theft prevention compared to last year.
Fighting cargo theft requires real-time intelligence
Despite the severity of the threat, businesses are proving that cargo theft is not impossible to reduce. Sixty-three percent (63%) say their organization has successfully reduced cargo theft or related losses.
What separates those organizations is telling: among companies reporting improvement, the leading contributors include GPS tracking, geofencing or cargo-level sensors (48%); greater real-time shipment visibility (45%); and faster alerts and response (38%).
Technology, however, is only one part of the response. Cargo theft also requires faster coordination once something goes wrong. But not every theft is even reported, so the cargo theft problem is likely bigger than the numbers show:
- Just 37% of organizations say they regularly report incidents and work directly with law enforcement on investigations;
- 42% report most incidents but coordinate little beyond the initial report;
- 17% report only the most serious or high-value cases;
- 46% of those with 15 or more years in their roles regularly work directly with law enforcement.
When it comes to preventing cargo theft, respondents identified the following technologies and tactics as effective: GPS tracking (70%), geofencing (65%), vehicle or trailer monitoring (57%), and cargo-level sensors (57%). More than half (53%) also indicate that collaboration with federal, state or local law enforcement is an effective prevention measure.
Overall, the capabilities businesses believe will make the biggest difference in fighting cargo theft include real-time location visibility and data that can be used to identify recurring theft patterns or high-risk routes. This is where technology can begin shifting cargo security from reactive investigation to proactive intervention.
Third-party transportation is creating a different visibility challenge
For businesses that outsource transportation to third-party carriers, a new layer of complexity takes hold. The responses and concerns from those that rely on third-party carriers mostly align with the full survey pool but with a few differences.
For organizations primarily relying on third-party carriers:
- 91% say cargo theft has become more organized (compared with 81% overall);
- 30% identify carrier compliance as their single biggest barrier to reducing cargo theft (compared with 12% overall);
- They are also more likely to identify risk while cargo is staged at a warehouse or distribution center and shortly after it leaves;
- 70% say real-time visibility into the location of goods would help prevent cargo theft (compared with 53% overall).
When a business does not control every truck, driver or handoff, visibility becomes more critical than ever.
What does this mean for supply chain leaders?
Criminal networks are becoming more organized and technologically sophisticated, while modern supply chains are becoming more distributed and dependent on outside partners. That combination makes visibility one of the most important defenses businesses can control.
Companies making progress point to a clear path forward: know where critical cargo is, spot unusual activity sooner and give teams the intelligence they need to act before a suspicious event becomes a multimillion-dollar loss.
With solutions like SmartSense Voyage, organizations can gain greater visibility into critical assets in motion and turn location and condition data into actionable intelligence.
