Anita Tomins
If the brand-new merchandise at the corner store or that overseas flea market seems so cheap that “it must have fallen off the back of a truck,” chances are it did.
That’s because this popular saying is rooted in an unfortunate reality: Cargo theft is a rampant problem. It’s also an expensive one for the insurance and transportation industries, adding up to more than $5 billion in losses every year. Combined with increased consumer prices and concerns for truck-driver safety, it’s easy to see that this “victimless crime” is anything but.
Though the disappearance of a box the size of an 18-wheeler sounds like something you might see only in a David Copperfield magic show, it’s no illusion: hundreds of container-loads vanish across this country every single day. So, just how does someone pickpocket a 40-ton load without a trace?
There are a number of ways, ranging from sly to brazen. Identity theft is a popular method, with the impostor arriving at the cross-docking yard as the legitimate carrier. Once in possession of the goods, the thief exits the facility for an underground distribution operation, the fraud undiscovered until the real driver shows up or the items don’t arrive.
Alternatively, it could be an old-fashioned break-and-enter, complete with disabled security cameras, cut locks and deftly gutted semi-trailers. More commonly though, it’s an inside job, with a rogue employee working not only for the fleet company, but also for a shady dealer or an organized crime ring, providing intelligence or opening the gates to accomplices.
And those truck stops? For drivers, they may not be as relaxing as they ought to be. “Rigs are taken or broken into while in transit more often than you might guess,” says Dan Little, manager of the claims special investigations unit at
Economical Insurance. “It’s a commonly heard phrase in the transportation industry that ‘freight at rest is freight at risk.’”
For the individuals and organizations behind these crimes, it’s well worth their while. Only two police forces in Canada, Halton/Peel and York Region in Ontario, have dedicated departments to combat this specific crime, one that’s especially pervasive in Peel’s Brampton and Mississauga.
The conviction rate for those caught is limited, and it’s impossible to set up sting operations for the thousands of locations such crimes may occur. “In the old days it was the high-value shipments that were targeted,” Little notes. “Nowadays it’s anything – diapers, food products – things that can be easily flipped for profit on the black market. Either way, it’s a lucrative and relatively risk-free enterprise for these guys.”
That ease of doing business can be at least partially hampered through the use of tracking and anti-theft products. GPS units can be embedded right inside shipments and geofencing technology can alert fleet owners if a truck strays from its set route. Some technology even allows for the ignition of a hijacked vehicle to be turned off remotely.
Insurance providers are being proactive in working closely with fleet owners to help them mitigate risks. Little says Economical is growing its fleet speciality team to continue to offer meaningful help by arming these valued customers with loss-prevention action plans. “It’s important to not close the stable doors after the horse has bolted, so to speak,” he says. “We encourage brokers to take advantage of the resources that are out there to help fleet customers avoid becoming another cargo-loss statistic.”
