Fleets experienced a 14% year-over-year increase in theft across the U.S. and Canada in Q3, as organized crime groups have employed evolving tactics to target everything from food and hard liquor to footwear and high-end electronics.
Fleet owners and truck drivers should understand the shifting risks and exercise precautions at each step of a cargo’s journey. Let’s examine ways to bolster your defenses from origin to destination—and ideally, stop bad actors for good.
Cargo protection tips and strategies
Cargo theft accounted for nearly $40 million in losses in Q3, with warehouses and truck stops being the top two targeted location types. Most thefts happened within California, Texas, and Illinois; however, criminals increasingly target areas with a lower threat perception.
Protecting cargo requires calculated efforts at the organizational level and from the drivers themselves:
Fleet management safety tips
Crime groups are targeting organizations with phishing schemes to gain access to email accounts. Once they have email access, criminals get valuable information to plan their attacks or even impersonate the individual whose account is compromised.
Leaders must prioritize cybersecurity, including extensive employee training to protect their accounts. Teams should also enable multi-factor authentication and regularly update passwords.
Also at the organizational level, fleet owners should establish clear protocols for investigating theft to understand the following:
- Common tactics criminals use
- The greatest vulnerabilities in their current routes
- What they can learn from each attack
Close collaboration with executives across the supply chain and law enforcement is necessary for sharing information that can support the successful pursuit of bad actors. It can be especially effective to discreetly store location tracking devices within shipments to monitor where stolen goods are taken, considering crime groups often gather their loot in a central location.
See also: Fleets Explained: What is cargo theft?
Defending cargo at its origin and destination
Beyond organizational defenses, drivers play a key role in protecting cargo. Of course, they should never put their personal safety at risk, but there are several ways they can add friction for would-be criminals and lessen their likelihood of being targeted.
When loading and unloading shipments:
- Backing trucks into the stall provides better visibility into the surrounding area. The front and sides of fleets are most commonly targeted, and it is easier to observe the area and use video surveillance solutions for situational awareness if the truck is backed in.
- Stay near the truck and verify that all persons handling the cargo have the appropriate credentials. Drivers should meet with loading and unloading personnel and look for potential indicators that someone should not be there, like someone who does not have a matching uniform or identification badge.
- Prioritize pickups from warehouses with a proven security posture. This can largely rely on the route planners; however, drivers can voice concerns to their fleet management, which can be escalated to the loading site managers.
Thanks to advancements in AI, many solutions exist that can identify potential bad actors and alert the appropriate personnel. For example, video analytics is becoming more common to alert managers if someone isn’t wearing personal protective equipment. Surveillance solutions are quickly learning to identify irregular patterns and alert on-the-ground teams of potential suspicious activity. Fleet managers should advocate for these solutions at warehouses if ongoing theft occurs.
In-transit safety tips
Trucks are at high risk of theft of catalytic converters, batteries, and fuel whenever they stop on their journey. As gas prices increase, fuel theft becomes a greater risk, and diesel fuel is especially valuable given its higher resell value on the black market.
Drivers can take several steps to limit their risk when traveling, especially if stopping for fuel or rest:
- Always lock the cargo
- Park in well-lit and high-traffic areas
- Stay in locations with visible security measures
While parking with other trucks can create safety in numbers, high-volume areas also become prime targets for criminals. Fenced locations provide some deterrence; however, it is easy to cut or bypass fences altogether.
Increase visibility around the truck and prioritize stopping at fuel centers with surveillance cameras or dedicated guards monitoring the area. If possible, back the truck up against a wall or another truck to make it difficult to access the cargo.
Any friction applied to locked cargo will help delay a bad actor and could, based on the perceived effort, cause them to target a different vehicle with fewer defenses.
Staying ahead of cargo thieves
The first step in protecting a fleet is implementing organization-wide training and security measures. Drivers should receive regular updates on new threats and best practices for mitigating them.
Information sharing between fleet owners, warehouse managers, and local law enforcement is key for understanding the evolving crime strategies and discussing solutions to stop bad actors for good. Individual efforts can protect some loads, but it takes collaborative efforts and an innovative mix of technology to augment human personnel and make cargo too risky to steal.
