COVID-19 and the six-day-long grounding of container ship Ever Given. Chinese port closures and the war in Ukraine. Businesses have experienced supply chain disruption at every turn in recent years. In this highly unpredictable environment, it’s not just freight industry professionals who’ve struggled to predict supply timeframes, it’s been a challenge for crime syndicates too.
On its face, this may seem like a silver lining but the reality is it’s introducing risk into workplaces. Gangs are highly motivated. When one door closes to them, they incentivize vulnerable employees to open another.
Employees who feel valued by their employers and enjoy a strong connection to their workplace community, however, will be far less likely to collude with the criminal element.
Once stolen, cargo is challenging to locate and secure. In fact, of cargo thefts reported to the FBI in 2018, only 22.8% were recovered. In 2019, the most recent FBI data available, the recovery rate plummeted to 2.9%.
Stretched thin by the pandemic, non-violent cargo thefts simply weren’t a priority for law enforcement and motor carriers would be wise not to count on their investigative resources.
When you consider that more than 60% of freight in transit today is under or uninsured, the impact of cargo theft grows more significant. In the event of an unrecovered loss, costs mount up fast: the value of the lost load, business interruption, expedited replacement costs, and damage to brand and customer loyalty to name a few.
It’s why reinforcing a company’s first line of defense — its people — is so crucial.
