A rise in cargo thefts was among the chief concerns for shippers at 2024's Agriculture Transportation Coalition conference (AgTC) in late May. 

Cargo thefts in the U.S. rose a troubling 9% year-over-year in 2023, with a further "significant" uptick in the latter half of the year, from around 60 in June to roughly 120 in each of July and August, according to supply chain risk management platform Overhaul, which tracks law enforcement data. Based on that, Overhaul projects national cargo theft volumes will rise by 35% by the end of 2024. The company says criminal groups are getting more organized and sophisticated, and are focusing on high-value cargo such as electronics and liquor. 

The problem has been particularly prominent in California, which saw 48% of cargo thefts nationwide in 2023, as identified by Overhaul. Speaking at AgTC, Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka called it "organized crime at its finest." 

"What we have seen in Southern California is that seals are ripped, doors are hit, and it's not always just an agriculture product that they leave for waste; it's product that they can fence quickly," he said. 

Seroka detailed how the Port of Los Angeles has made progress working with local law enforcement to identify suspects, and that some offenders have been apprehended already. He expects more arrests to be made down the road, adding that thieves will often "get sloppy and leave stuff behind."

Although electronics are the most targeted items for cargo theft, shippers for agricultural products are encountering their own unique issues. Rachel DeRosier, international export manager for sausage maker Johnsonville, spoke at AgTC about thieves getting into railyards storing their shipments, breaking seals for temperature-controlled containers filled with meat, then leaving the product behind in search of more valuable cargo.

When that happens, Johnsonville's policy is to destroy everything in the unsealed container, rather than risk selling sausage that might have spoiled when the container was opened. That leads to difficulties in the insurance claim process since nothing was actually stolen. Johnsonville has also had to deal with the added cost of transloading its exports from trains onto trucks, "because we can't find a solution to ensure our product is safe on rail."

Although the company hasn't found a long-term deterrent, it has started using temperature trackers on containers to at least figure out when and where the incidents are occurring.

"Temperature trackers are helping us tell the story," DeRosier said, noting how they showed that many of the company's containers had been left unsealed for as many as 10 days, and that a majority of attempted thefts have been happening near Chicago, with cargo bound for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. 

Overhaul recommends that shippers and carriers take steps to verify the movement of shipments at every stage, and to authenticate all shipment-related activities when cargo is moved and stored. It also suggests taking extra steps to secure any areas where cargo comes to rest, with tightly controlled access, adequate lighting, video surveillance, and a deep knowledge of past theft activity in a given area.