Event: Thanksgiving Weekend – Holiday Awareness
Date: November 19, 2015
Location: United States
Description: Holiday weekends are notorious for presenting increased cargo theft risks for transportation companies, shippers, and manufacturers. Since 2010, the transportation industry has experienced over three thefts per day during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, an increase of 27% over the annual average of 2.4 thefts per non-holiday day throughout those years. During this elevated threat period,Electronics and Clothing & Shoes increase as targets for thieves, and Home & Gardenproducts supplant Food & Drinks as the most stolen product type. Organized theft rings are always active and recognize holiday weekends can cause shipments to be unattended for prolonged periods of time. There were 12 reported cargo theft incidents during the 2014 Thanksgiving weekend totaling over $930K in reported losses, including two Fictitious Pickups in California.
Recommendation: FreightWatch International recommends logistics and security professionals ensure security protocols are up to date, and in line with industry best practices for in-transit and warehouse operations. Both of these will be heavily targeted over the weekend via traditional and non-traditional cargo theft methods.
Notable Thefts from Previous Thanksgiving Weekends:
2014 – Full Truckload theft of $560K in Cosmetics in North Carolina
2013 – Facility Theft of $648K of Alcohol in Washington
2013 – Full Truckload theftof $250Kof Seafood in New Jersey
2012 – Full Truckload theft of $540K of Copper in Illinois
2012 – Full Truckload theft of $200K of Electronics in California
FreightWatch International
Supply Chain Intelligence Center