U.S. Senate Targets Cargo Theft

Witnesses at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing indicated that organized crime is definitely involved in cargo theft, with the committee chair declaring that such crime exposes “significant vulnerabilities” in the U.S. supply chain.

Lawmakers and witnesses alike described supply chain vulnerabilities resulting in losses that affect not only businesses but also consumers and, in some cases, help fund criminal activities here and abroad, said a report of the committee’s discussions. However, a big problem in attempting to curb cargo thefts is that no one really understands the scale of the problem.

Estimates range from losses exceeding $1 billion annually to as much as $35 billion annually. Sources range from the National Insurance Crime Bureau to the National Retail Federation to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. None of these sources agree on the extent of the problem. Data collection is not well organized, meaning that some thefts may be counted more than once or not counted at all. Because law enforcement in the U.S. is decentralized, theft reports don’t always end up in any database, while some thefts don’t get reported at all by the victim.

Proposed legislation in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives would provide resources to ensure cargo theft investigations are coordinated among and between federal, state and local jurisdictions. A primary goal would be to establish a central repository for cargo theft reports.