Third Quarter 2020 Cargo Theft Trends Analysis

In the third quarter of 2020, CargoNet recorded 365 supply chain risk events in the United States and Canada. Fifty-six percent of events involved theft of one or more vehicles and 61 percent involved theft of cargo. In the third quarter of 2020 there were 223 cargo theft events, an increase of 23% from third-quarter 2019. The average cargo value per cargo theft was $151,452, for an estimated total of $33.77 million in cargo stolen across the United States and Canada in this analysis period. 

Texas reported 65 cargo thefts in the third quarter of 2020; thefts in the state were up nearly 210% from third-quarter 2019. Florida and Georgia round out the top three states. Most of the states in the top ten reported year-over-year increases in theft except for California and New Jersey which reported decreases of 45% and 48%, respectively.

Trailer burglaries remained the preferred method of cargo theft in the third quarter of 2020, but we also noted increases in theft of loaded trailers and theft of cargo by fictitious pickup.  Fictitious pickup activity continued its resurgence with more than double the reported incidents year-over-year. In the third quarter of 2020, fictitious pickup events occurred in six states, but Texas recorded the most with 14 incidents.

Targeted commodities in third-quarter 2020 were heavily influenced by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and CargoNet saw an increase in theft of in-demand products like household cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment.