Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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EQUIPMENT: CARGO THEFT "We're fighting it every single day, and lately it's been getting worse." – BILL BOEHNING, CORPORATE DIRECTOR OF SECURITY, PRIME INC. what portions of his run are the most isolated. It's profi ling of the most sinister nature and all geared toward one goal: Determining the most opportune time to strike and steal the cargo with the least amount of risk. "Some of their tactics are pretty simple," Boehning says. "They know – as we all do – that certain manufactur- ers produce certain items." Thieves will sit covertly outside the manufacturer's gates and patiently observe the trucks coming and going. "They see them go to the dock, and they have a pretty good idea of what the cargo being loaded is," he says. But the lengths that some criminals will travel in order to verify cargo is enough to send a chill down any fl eet's collective spine. "The crimi- nals basically do reverse police work to fi nd, learn and stalk their prey, " says Boehning, such as identifying a fl eet's insurance carrier and what types of policies they have. "They're smart enough to know a refrigerated fl eet won't pay a high-risk premium to ship cargo that's not worth a whole lot," he says. "This is how these guys make their living. They're not playing around at this, and fl eets can't play around at this, either. Today's high-target loads " include pharmaceuticals, tobacco, alcohol and electron- ics. "With the economy still struggling, any cargo is at risk – even food items," says An- thony Canale, vice president of CargoNet, a cargo-opti- mized theft recovery service. Another big target is pre- cious metals, where Prime has seen an increase in theft among its fl atbed opera- tions. "They're targeted a little more than our reefers are," Boehning says of his company's fl atbeds. "The crooks can tell right off they've got a full load of copper that they can get rid of as opposed to grabbing a reefer and ending up with a whole trailer full of lettuce." The price of copper is constantly on the rise, making it a highly lucrative target. "One copper panel can weigh a couple hundred pounds," Boehning says. "You may have 40,000 pounds worth of pan- els on the back of a fl atbed." The metal doesn't have to be packaged in large quanti- ties to be a tempting target. Carl Tapp – a retired main- tenance director for P.A.M. Transportation who now runs Solutions Advocates, a private consulting service specializing in transportation security and maintenance – recalls a load of NOx sensors that was tar- geted because the components contained a precious metal. "The thieves cut a hole through the fl oor of the trailer, " Tapp says. "They trailed this truck on its run all the way down to Mexico, and every time that driver stopped, they'd go back through the hole in the fl oor and get an- other load of sensors, which were only about the size of a hockey puck. By the time the rig got to Mexico, half of them were gone." Driver education Given the magnitude of the problem, fl eets should be happy to learn they have many countermeasures avail- able to fi ght cargo theft – and most are relatively easy to implement. "It really comes down to changing behavior," Ca- nale says. A fl eet's anti-theft strategy and related education must be implemented across the board and include drivers, technicians, warehouse per- sonnel and offi ce employees – "everyone," he says. But many fl eets somehow neglect taking the time and effort to impart an obvious sense of responsibility to the driver. "Make sure that driver feels that he or she is an inte- gral part of the supply chain," Canale says. Prime emphasizes that driv- ers must take ownership of the tractor and trailer and follow standard practices every time they stop. "Things like using their air cuff lock when they're parking and checking the seals every time they get out – just easy common practices that so many companies take for granted," Boehning says. Where drivers park and how they behave in truckstops can have a huge impact when combating cargo theft, experts say. Tapp teaches drivers to use their surroundings to their advantage by backing trailers up against buildings, fences or even other trailers to make it hard or impossible for thieves to open doors and get inside. Park in well-lit heavily trav- eled areas near fuel islands, buildings and restaurants whenever possible, and also take note of security cameras and park in their fi eld of view, Tapp says. Long-term parking at rest stops and on highway shoulders generally is a bad idea – as is taking a load home and leaving it unattended for a weekend. Another practice is instruct- ing drivers to not talk about their loads. "Loose lips sink ships," says Tapp, who believes Cargo Theft By State Top 10* Florida 2011 2010 California 304 350 Texas 173 124 146 141 New Jersey 130 135 Illinois 88 88 Georgia 76 113 Tennessee 32 47 Pennsylvania 29 38 Indiana 21 11 North Carolina 17 18 New York 17 11 *Top 10 account for 85% of total reported cargo theft incidents in 2011 Source: CargoNet U.S. Cargo Theft Report CALIFORNIA HAS REPORTED THE MOST CARGO THEFT INCIDENTS FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS, ACCORDING TO CARGONET, WHILE TEXAS JUMPED AHEAD OF FLORIDA IN 2011 TO CLAIM THE DUBIOUS NO. 2 SPOT. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2012 55