By James Jaillet, March 5, 2014, Ccjdigital.com
The number of cargo thefts recorded in 2013 tied 2012′s all-time high of 951, according to an annual report released by FreightWatch International this week, who also said in the report that better organization and innovation by thieves continues to push the threat of cargo theft higher.
An average of 79.25 cargo thefts occurred each month in the U.S. — 2.6 per day. of the 951 total thefts in 2013, 692 were full-truckload or container thefts, FreightWatch reported, and 65 were less-than-truckload thefts.
Thefts of pharmaceuticals and food/drink loads (excluding acohol) each saw big increases in the year, with pharmaceutical load thefts rising 50 percent and food/drink load thefts climbing 34 percent.
Particularly, stolen loads of nuts; seafood; candy, cookies and snacks; dairy and eggs; and meat all more than doubled from 2012, spiking 117 percent, 142 percent, 150 percent and 237 percent, respectively.
Food loads generally have lower security, FreightWatch says, which accounts for some of the uptick, as thieves target the easier-to-nab food/drink loads rather than the harder to obtain electronics loads.