Cargo theft decreased by 26% in the United States during the fourth quarter.
During the fourth quarter of 2021, California, Texas, and Florida were the most targeted states for cargo theft, with thieves focusing on electronics, home appliances, and medications.
CargoNet, a Verisk firm that records supply chain thefts, recorded a total of 300 thefts in the fourth quarter, compared to 407 in the same time in 2020, a year-over-year decrease of 26 percent.
“We’re down from last year, which tells me supply chains are starting to stabilize,” CargoNet’s vice president of operations Keith Lewis told FreightWaves.
One of the reasons cargo theft may be down in the fourth quarter, according to Lewis, is that brokerages aren’t being assaulted with the huge volume of products people purchased in 2020.
Instead of being under pressure to shift 50 loads on a given day, brokers are now given 25 loads to move, according to Lewis.
“The supply chains are humming along presently, not going at the lightspeed that they were [in 2020],” Lewis explained. “When you’re traveling at lightspeed, things like vetting carriers and things like that take a back seat because we have to get the cargo moving.”
California led the way with 63 cargo thefts reported in the fourth quarter, followed by Texas with 34 and Florida with 30.
Electronics were the most stolen commodities in the fourth quarter of 2021 and throughout the year. During the fourth quarter, the most common places for theft were parking lots and truck stops.
“We witnessed people leaving trucks in the shopping mall parking lot, the big-box store parking lot, or the parking lot across from a distribution center over the weekend,” Lewis added. “Truck stops were No. 2, which tells me that there is a lot of pilferage at truck stops, with people stealing off the trailer rather than stealing the entire trailer.”
While the numbers are down, there is still a lot of freight at risk, according to Ron Greene, vice president of business development at Overhaul, Austin-based real-time visibility, and risk management platform.
“Cargo theft is still a problem in Southern California,” Greene added.
Union Pacific reported a 160 percent increase in robberies on its Los Angeles facility in December. Trespassers climbed onto trains and broke into cargo containers to do the robberies.
Over 90 containers were compromised per day on average during the fall intermodal high season, according to UP, and over 100 arrests were made by local law enforcement and UP.
“What has truly caused the rail services to witness an increase in thefts is mostly supply chain concerns producing backlogs, forcing freight and containers to sit idle and unprotected for long periods of time, making them more vulnerable,” Greene explained.
In 2021, Overhaul assisted one of its customers in recovering $1 million in stolen equipment from Tennessee. The overhaul also recovered $400,000 for a consumer electronics company in December.
“We captured a door opening event on a container for the electronics industry, which means we have the equipment to monitor when the doors are open or closed in real-time,” Greene explained. “Within a few minutes, we were able to send law enforcement out to that precise container.”
In January, volumes via Mexican ports surged by 11.3 percent.
In January, Mexican seaports handled 650,854 twenty-foot equivalent units, an 11.3 percent increase over the same month in 2021.
According to Mexico’s secretary of the navy, ports along Mexico’s Pacific coast handled 478,526 TEUs in January, a 19.7 percent increase over 2021, while ports around the country’s Gulf Coast handled 172,328 TEUs, a 6.8 percent decrease.
The Port of Manzanillo handled the most TEUs in January, with 269,185, followed by the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, which handled 172,849 TEUs, a 77 percent increase over 2021.
The Port of Veracruz recorded a 6.1 percent increase to 91,886 TEUs handled in January, while the Port of Altamira reported a 17.3 percent reduction to 63,086 TEUs handled in January.
Samsara establishes branches in Mexico City and Amsterdam.
Samsara Inc. (NYSE: IoT), a provider of connected operations cloud, has recently opened offices in Mexico City and Amsterdam to accelerate its international expansion.
According to a press release, the expansion seeks to service new and existing customers in Mexico and Europe.
Samsara’s first office in Mexico will be in Mexico City. By the end of the year, the office is projected to have 100 workers working in sales, operations, and customer success roles.
“We’ve already seen the significant benefit for our local customers, like Alianza Trayecto, Mexicana Logistics, and Cruz Roja,” said Santiago Padilla, Samsara’s head of sales and business operations.
In 2018, Samsara opened its first European facility in London. Its Amsterdam office will be the company’s first in the Netherlands.
“The opening of our Amsterdam office to assist the Benelux region strengthens our ability to provide world-class service to our customers,” said Philip Van Der Wilt, vice president, and general manager of Samsara EMEA.
A Texas trucker has been convicted of carrying meth.
Juan Jose Grande-Rivas, a truck driver, was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Grande-Rivas, of Channelview, Texas, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in the Southern District of Texas in Laredo on Wednesday.
The inquiry began when investigators discovered a refrigerated trailer containing narcotics that had been delivered to a trucking yard in Laredo. Grande-Rivas arrived later, hooked up the trailer, and drove away.
Surveillance was maintained by law police in Texas, Oklahoma, and a residential neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas. Grande-Rivas exited the trailer and parked it in an empty lot.
A few kilometers away, law officers apprehended him. He had $30,000 on him at the time of his arrest. Grande-Rivas confirmed to police authorities that he was aware of the presence of drugs in the trailer.
Authorities discovered 703 kilograms of methamphetamine in the trailer’s foam insulation after searching the vehicle.
A sentencing date will be determined at a later time. Grande-Rivas faces a minimum of ten years in jail and a maximum of life in prison.
