Rises in Freight Thefts
For years, we at Rhino Fleet Tracking have been involved in the recovery of stolen cargo and or trailers. The stories get more interesting as time goes on. Last week, CCJDigital.com reported that 3rd quarter cargo thefts were down over the 2014 numbers. Well that’s good! Unfortunately, that’s probably just a cyclical number. The article goes on to talk about rises in freight thefts in Florida (42%), Illinois (15.3%), and Texas (7%). Ontario Canada reported a 43% increase!
Stopping Cargo Theft
So, what to do? GPS tracking devices will be our focus, but that’s in a minute. Insurance carriers have been working with trucking carriers for a few years to try to use historical data to prevent thefts. The insurance companies are tracking where goods are stolen. Often, cargo thefts take place at truck stops. This is a great place for an inside job too… A trucker simply disconnects his trailer to do something… The thieves just happen to be there waiting and just happen to want what the trucker was carrying… Happens at the same place over and over and the insurance company doesn’t really want trucks going there anymore. There are ways to tackle such a problem. Rhino has worked with insurance companies and carriers to monitor and alert when the troubled truck stops are being visited by a trucker.
Trucking companies are putting GPS tracking devices on both trucks and trailers. RFT has helped the trucking companies by alerting any time a truck or trailer, equipped with a GPS tracking device, stops at one of these truck stops frequently used by the truckers. In the past, this has helped recover trailers used to haul missiles (never did hear if there were any in it), trailer full of cell phones, a load of tires with a GPS trackeronboard, truck full of groceries, and more. Interestingly, it isn’t electronics that is stolen most often. It is quite often groceries. Energy drinks are commonly stolen as they can be sold off market for near retail prices. With a combination of GPS tracking devices, trucking company policies, and attentiveness by insurers, the numbers can be reduced. However, thieves are always creative, so you can expect them to only get smarter.
