As the Americans are ready for fireworks and barbecue today, another group is planning a different kind: cargo thieves.
Every year, the day is Independence Day, see a notable spike in criminal networks that is seizing the shipment of everything ranging from television to energy drinks to important medical supply, exploiting disruption and reducing the oversight coming with a holiday crowd.
It is part of a growing cargo theft epidemic. Once a sporadic disturbance, it has metastasized in a nationwide criminal venture that is bleeding the US supply chain of over $ 35 billion every year. And every day the US bill is ranked.
These thieves are not just locking in the dead of the night. Sophisticated criminal rings are exploiting weaknesses in our digital infrastructure, sometimes leaving the warehouse even before running a valider and kidnapping load, using the theft of cyber fraud and identity theft sometimes without touching a cabler without touching a cross. Other people target trucks and trailers at rest stops and distribution centers, threatening personal protection of drivers who are busy doing their jobs.
The results are beyond the loss of goods. Small trucking companies face high insurance premiums or exit businesses. Retail vendors, already global supply chains are navigating headaches, should absorb delayed delivery and inventory damage. Consumers look at price growth and vacant shelves. And for drivers – often the last line of defense – the stress of constant vigilance becomes a daily burden.
Cyber-capable “strategic theft” is now one of the most insidious and fastest growing methods of cargo crime. When virtually any enforcement is coupled with enforcement, it is a low-risk, very high-raised proposal for these bad actors. Just ten theft ends in arrest.
This is why Congress should work and pass Competition of organized retail crime actA bilateral bill that would eventually be necessary for federal authorities to take legal structures, resources and cross-agency coordination seriously. This is a badly overdose step towards integrated national enforcement.
This bill will create a federal task force with the investigative authority to stop these criminalsRings ofJust significantly, local law enforcement should be trained and equipped to identify and react to cargo theft. Federal funds should support multi-judicial investigation.
We also need better data. Unlike other forms of crime, cargo theft is severely lowered and inconsistently tracked. Combb Organized Retail Crime Act is a national cargo theft database – comprehensive, centralized and transparent – which would be a powerful tool for law enforcement and industry stakeholders, which equally installs. As it stands, we are probably lowering the correct scale of economic damage.
The numbers we know are related. The average value of each cargo theft is more than $ 200,000, and according to the National Insurance Bureau of Insurance, there has been one. 1,500 percent increase Cargo theft incidents since 2021. In 2024, the total cargo theft loss increased by 27 percent and in 2025 it is estimated to increase another 22 percent.
The FBI and Homeland Security Department has flagged it as a growing national threat – but anger on the theft epidemic, as real failure is one of the enforcement. Cargo is weak for theft. Investigations are rare. Prosecution is slower than a back-up port. Cargo thieves should face punishments that reflect the scale of their crimes – not pocket changes that come with a slap on the wrist.
Sen Tod Young (R-Ind.) RecentlySaid it well: “Cargo will require an ‘all-hand-on-deck’ approach to end the theft that includes Congress, federal agencies, local law enforcement and private sector.”
The all-hand-on-deck approach would have helped Adam Blancard, CEO of Tanagar Logistics, Texas. As He told Congress members in FebruaryThe thieves loaded under the name of their company, cheating both Shipar and the carrier. He then stole the truck load of Red Bull, turned them into suspected warehouses in California and shipping out of the country.
When Blancard met with insurance companies, local law enforcement and federal agencies – FBI, federal motor carrier security administration, even Homeland Security Department – even with indifference and wall of red tape. This is the same bureaucracy that claims to protect our borders and secure our economy, yet this massive fraud cannot address. this is unacceptable.
Say with blunt: Cargo theft threatens our national security, weakened our economy and dissolved the law enforcement. Truck drivers are being targeted, business suffers and costs are borne by consumers.
The trucking industry has repeatedly shown its flexibility – through epidemic, natural disasters and economic tremors. We are very proud to reach America’s goods safely and on time to keep our economy operational. But we cannot fight organized cargo crime without full support and partnership of our federal government.
By passing the combing organized retail crime act, the Congress can send a clear message: we won’t stand while the criminal syndicate hijacks its supply chain – we will hunt them, shut them down and protect the backbone of American commerce.
Chris Spear is the President and CEO of the American Trucking Association.
