No amount of vigilance will ever eliminate theft from the trucking industry.
More than $138 million in cargo was stolen from truckers in 2015, according to a report from FreightWatch International of Austin, Texas. Protecting freight is a daily worry for transportation executives whose trucks are crisscrossing the nation daily with trailers full of goods.
Technology has helped truckers. Thanks to better in-cab communication systems, drivers can stay in constant contact with headquarters or law enforcement on the road, and tracking devices can register where trailers are.
But if the transportation industry has grown sophisticated, so has the thieving industry.
“The thieves are smart,” said Billy Cartright, the senior vice president of operations at USA Truck Inc. of Van Buren. “They figure out ways to bypass systems and other security systems out there.”
Tony Longinotti of PAM Transport Services of Tontitown said thieves will show up at a pickup point with counterfeit paperwork and then drive off with an entire trailer. More common are thieves who root through an unlocked or unguarded trailer for merchandise while it’s parked at a warehouse or a rest stop or fueling station.
“The theft rings now are so sophisticated; it’s not a couple of guys pulling up in a beat-up truck saying here’s our paperwork,” Longinotti said. “It’s very difficult, if they are that sophisticated, that you can protect 100 percent of the time. It’s a full-time job for a lot of them.”
Alert Driver Best Defense
Cartright said an alert driver is the first and best line of defense against cargo theft. It’s one reason why new drivers are paired with experienced drivers the first few months on the job.
USA Truck and other companies also pair drivers when shipments are considered high-value targets or are going to high-risk areas of the United States. Drivers are repeatedly told to call the office if something doesn’t look or feel right.
“That’s part of the protocol on theft: If you think something is suspicious, we have a hotline you can call,” Cartright said. “We’ll call law enforcement out. We’d rather be safe than sorry. If we call something in and it’s a false alarm, that’s what we want. We’d rather our drivers call it in and it be a false alarm than have something that could hurt them and the company.”
Of the 2015 cargo thefts, FreightWatch said nearly half happened in California, Florida and Texas. Georgia and New Jersey are also popular states for cargo thefts.
“There are certain parts of the country that we keep a close eye on versus other parts due to the fenceability of certain products in certain areas,” Cartright said. “You look at certain parts of the country like Florida and Georgia, where they are known for having high cargo theft. We try to really be careful in those markets where there are products that are highly fenceable. We take special measures to eliminate as much potential for that theft as we can.”
Longinotti said PAM tries to send teams when there is high-value cargo or a high-risk destination. Longinotti said the company tries to avoid that by limiting the value of any one cargo for delivery.
“We constantly monitor what we call the cargo-theft hotspots throughout the country; Atlanta is one of the worst,” Longinotti said. “Any time we have what we consider a high-value load, we send out additional messages that you are in a high-theft area. Stay with the unit with at least one person parked in a secure lot for a fuel stop. A lot of it is just being aware of your surroundings.”
It’s important that any theft is immediately reported, especially if it involves high-value cargo, Longinotti said. Much as a stolen car can be disposed of quickly, so too can a load of TVs.
“Some of the theft rings, if you have a trailer missing and you don’t find it within two to three hours, it’s on a boat and heading south,” Longinotti said. “They’re that sophisticated. You have to be vigilant.”
Both Longinotti and Cartright said many of the precautions drivers can take are common sense actions most regular travelers would take: park in well-lit areas, keep the doors locked and don’t leave valuables unattended.
“It’s really just common sense approaches that are the best deterrents out there,” Cartright said.
No Cargo Heroes
Almost every trucking company has a hotline similar to what USA Truck uses for 24/7 communication with drivers. If something goes wrong — theft or an accident or a medical emergency — the headquarters staff will know how to get help to the driver’s location.
“With the onboard communication system, it’s like a black box,” Cartright said. “It’s going to tell us where the truck is at, how long it has been sitting there. It allows us to have some good information on the truck.”
Cartright and Longinotti agreed that it’s critical — and mandatory at PAM and USA Truck — for their drivers to rely on law enforcement to solve any problems.
State and federal regulations allow firearms with proper licensing, but most companies prohibit their drivers from carrying weapons. There are liability concerns, of course, and most drivers cross state lines during delivery, and the lack of uniformity of state laws is a headache best avoided.
“When you watch the old trucking movies, the guy is always carrying a shotgun in his truck; that’s Hollywood, right?” Cartright said. “That’s really not the case. Your major companies in the United States don’t allow their drivers to carry guns and those kinds of things. We’re talking about the security and safety of our drivers, and we also don’t want them putting the general public in danger.
“If there is anything suspicious, call us and we’ll get law enforcement engaged immediately. That way we ensure the safety of our driver and the community. We let the professionals do their job so we can do what we’re good at, which is driving and delivering freight. We don’t want heroes.”
Longinotti said there’s no cargo worth putting someone at risk. If a load is stolen, it’s upsetting, but insurance will cover it.
“It would be a bad idea,” Longinotti said. “Our biggest asset is our driver. We can take care of a cargo issue with insurance. You could have some driver where he may be possibly injured or harmed.”
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