Despite lots of money spent to stop it, cargo theft remains a huge problem globally and also in the US.

The supply chain risk experts at the UK's BSI recently came out with their 2020 annual report, looking at data from 2019. That is nicely summarized in the graphic below from the report, comparing 2019 incidents versus 2018:

Source: BSI

A few things jumped out from the data. Violent hijackings were the top type of theft globally in 2019, at 26% of incidents. However, we will note hijackings are rare in the US even as they are common in the rest of the world, including parts of Europe.

37% of incidents in 2019 were "in-transit" - usually the result of carelessness on the part of the driver. Ditto for the 16% of thefts occuring at rest stops.

The average value of thefts in North America was a hefy $80,000 last year, up substantially from $58,000 in 2018.

And food and beverage remain the top product category for cargo thefts. Why? Because it is very easy to sell off the stolen goods.

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