The winter holiday shipping season has historically been one of the most dangerous times for cargo theft, according to FreightWatch International. This year, both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day occur on a Friday, creating two separate three-day weekends, leaving more opportunity for shipments to be left unattended or parked in unsecured locations for extended periods of time.
In addition to the usual spike in full truckload theft and pilferage during the holidays, it is not uncommon to see a spike in facility theft as well. Facilities dense with merchandise waiting for empty shelves that will follow hectic holiday sales provide rich targets for cargo thieves. Moreover, these facilities tend to have fewer personnel over the extended holiday period.
FreightWatch recommends logistics and security professionals confirm holiday hours of operation with shipping partners to mitigate any unforeseen shipping delays.
The firm also advises the review of security protocols to ensure policies are up to date and in line with industry best practices for both in-transit and warehouse operations; both will be heavily targeted over this holiday period. Covert GPS tracking with an active monitoring program is vital to mitigate threats and is an invaluable asset to the recovery process in the event of a theft.
Notable thefts from previous winter holiday weekends include:
Facility theft, $300,000 of electronics in Texas
Fictitious pickup, $1 million of apparel in New Jersey
Full truckload theft, $285,000 of ATVs and seacraft in Texas
Facility theft, $100,000 of apparel in Florida
Last-mile courier theft, $127,000 of pharmaceuticals in Oklahoma
Full truckload theft, $1.1 million of electronics in California
