(File art)FreightWatch International is encouraging shippers and carriers to reduce shipping delays as much as possible during the winter holiday season to help reduce cargo theft.
FWI said the winter holiday shipping season is one of the most dangerous for cargo theft, adding that this year, with Christmas Day and New Year’s Day both falling on a Friday, two separate three-day weekends create more opportunity for freight to be left unattended or parked in unsecured locations for longer periods of time.
FreightWatch said in addition to the usual spike in full truckload theft and pilferage, a spike in facility theft is also a possibility because of extra merchandise being shipped to restock store shelves after the holiday sales.
As a recommendation, FreightWatch encourages logistics and security professionals to confirm holiday hours of operation with shipping partners to mitigate any shipping delays.
Notable thefts from previous winter holiday weekends include:
- 2015 – Facility theft of $300,000 of electronics on New Year’s Day in Texas
- 2014 – Fictitious pickup of $1M of apparel in New Jersey
- 2013 – Full truckload theft of $285,000 of ATVs and seacraft in Texas
- Facility theft of $100,000 of apparel in Florida
- 2012 – Last-mile courier theft of $127,000 of pharmaceuticals in Oklahoma
- 2012 – Full truckload theft of $1.1M of electronics in California
