DATA from freight insurance specialist TT Club and the supply chain services and solutions team at BSI, shows that storage facilities in the United States were targeted in 45% of reported cases of cargo theft in the third quarter; up from 20% of recorded cases in the same quarter in 2020.

These locations include traditional warehouses and depots where containers and trailers are being held awaiting collection, many of which are temporary facilities in port areas without adequate security regimes.

The data also showed a fall in hijacking and robbery of vehicles from 67% to just 25% this year coincidental with the rise in the theft of cargo units in unsecured storage areas.

Congestion throughout the supply chain but particularly in and around ports is a significant contributory factor to this diversification of theft types, according to TT Club

Please note the more prevalent types of theft for each quarter are indicated by the “hotter” colours in the illustration above

As the diagrammatic comparisons below show, the largest rise in the methods and locations for cargo theft was from facilities: the percentage of the total increasing to 25% in the third quarter this year in contrast with just 7% in 2020. At the other extreme theft of vehicles fell from a dominant 47% in 2020 to a surprisingly low 15%; in addition, hijackings halved from 20% to 10%.

Mike Yarwood, TT Club’s managing director, loss prevention said, “The is little doubt that the problems of supply chain disruption that are currently bedevilling the US freight transport system, particularly that of container congestion at ports and inland hubs, is creating increased opportunities for thieves.

“The static nature of cargo in these circumstances, often stored in temporary and less secure facilities, leads to criminal ingenuity adapting the modus operandi of theft in a typically resourceful way.”