The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has released new research on the growing problem of cargo theft in the US.
ATRI obtained detailed cargo theft data from motor carriers, logistics service providers (LSPs), insurers and other stakeholders to understand and quantify the scale and causes of cargo theft, covering:
- How and where cargo theft occurs
- The financial costs of cargo theft to the industry
- Cargo theft prevention strategies
- Strengthening partnerships with law enforcement
- The role of insurance in shaping cargo theft risk management
The research documents the high cost of theft to both motor carriers – who average more than USD 520,000 in annual theft losses, and to LSPs – who average more than USD 1.84 million in annual losses. The annualised cargo theft cost to the industry is as high as USD 6.6 billion, or more than USD 18 million per day.
The report goes on to recommend counter-strategies that include:
- The development of security culture within motor carriers and across the supply chain
- Enacting model state legislation, including specific cargo theft penalties
- Developing a federal-level centralised cargo theft reporting agency
The full report is available here.
Cargo theft isn’t a trucking problem. It’s a national crisis.
A recent 60 Minutes episode showed thieves using frighteningly advanced cyber tactics to steal two truckloads carrying USD 1 million worth of Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar’s tequila without ever pulling a gun.
More than 24,000 bottles of the celebrity duo’s Santo Spirits tequila – nearly four years in the making – never reached their Pennsylvania destination. After leaving Laredo, Texas, two legitimate drivers were duped by thieves posing as company officials into rerouting the load to a fake Los Angeles warehouse. After their convincing impersonation, the criminals also spoofed the trucks’ GPS, ensuring the seven-figure shipment disappeared without a trace.
While it made for gripping television, it highlights a much larger, more alarming issue. Cargo theft has metastasised into an organised, global enterprise.
Criminals still smash locks in the middle of the night, but now, as shown in the tequila heist, they also use ever-evolving digital deception to hijack goods, even impersonating the websites of legitimate trucking companies to fool unsuspecting shippers.
Because of the remote nature of cyber tactics, cargo theft is a high-profit, low-risk proposition. With fragmented jurisdictions and minimal penalties to prosecute and enforce cargo theft, thieves can steal millions of dollars in minutes with little fear of arrest. And as Fieri and Hagar’s experience shows, no one is immune.
That’s why Congress needs to pass the bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA), which would provide law enforcement and industry with a unified framework to fight back. Not only would it create a long-overdue task force to pursue these criminal rings, but it would also establish a badly needed national cargo theft database.
Current cargo theft data is self-reported, likely underestimating the true damage. Still, the stats are alarming. Strategic theft – deception, fraud, and cybertheft to trick shippers, brokers, and carriers into handing loads over to thieves instead of legitimate receivers – has skyrocketed 1,500% since 2022, according to Verisk CargoNet.
Cargo theft losses surged 27% in 2024 and are projected to climb another 22% in 2025, data from Verisk CargoNet shows, with logistics service providers now seeing nearly USD 2 million in cargo stolen from them on average annually. That’s an eye-popping number, but the true cost goes far beyond the stolen goods. It disrupts deliveries, raises insurance rates, and erodes trust in the supply chain. And ultimately, consumers see higher prices.
It’s encouraging to now see the issue gain national attention, even if it took celebrity victims to spark it. But the real, everyday victims are small business owners, truck drivers, and carriers who quietly absorb devastating losses that rarely make headlines.
It’s easy to dismiss the stolen tequila as an anomaly, but it’s a warning of how brazen these criminal networks have become. They target anything that moves quickly and sells easily, from electronics and food to clothing and household goods. And they’re getting more sophisticated every year.
It’s proof of an emboldened, international criminal network exploiting America’s open roads and digital vulnerabilities. Every day Congress delays, the networks grow stronger, the technology sharper, and the economic toll higher. Our drivers, carriers, and warehouse workers deserve to operate in a system where rules are enforced and criminals are held accountable.
Congress has the tools to act: the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act will give law enforcement the authority, coordination, and data they need to dismantle these rings before the next multimillion-dollar load disappears.
Truckers show up for America every single day. It’s time for Congress to show up for them.
This story was originally published by IRU member the American Trucking Associations.