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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
AUSTIN, Texas—Cargo thefts increased 4.1% in the United States in 2010 compared with 2009, FreightWatch International said Tuesday.
FreightWatch, which tracks and records cargo theft globally, said in its 2010 U.S. cargo theft report that of 899 cargo thefts, 724 involved a full truckload or container and 31 were warehouse burglaries.
Violence was involved in 1.3% of all cargo theft incidents, including 10 highjackings and two warehouse robberies, FreightWatch said.
In its report, FreightWatch said there were an average of 75 incidents per month; the supply chain industry sustained a full truckload or container loss at a rate of 2.5 incidents per day.
The average loss value per incident was $471,200 in 2010, a 17% decrease from 2009's $572,800 loss per incident, FreightWatch said.
Thefts of pharmaceuticals repeated as the highest per-incident value, averaging $3.78 million. Tobacco was No. 2 at $1.26 million, followed by electronics at $512,000.
Food and drinks were the most popular target of cargo thieves, accounting for 21% of all incidents and surpassing electronics, which represented 19% of all U.S. cargo thefts.
California, New Jersey and Florida had the most cargo theft incidents. California saw a slight decrease in the number of incidents, with 229 in 2010 compared with 253 in 2009.
Texas also saw a decline in incidents, declining to 84 in 2010 from 111 in 2009 while New Jersey saw an increase to 121 incidents in 2010 from 50 in 2009.
The report, “U.S. Cargo Theft: 2010,” is available at www.freightwatchintl.com.