Volume of U.S. cargo thefts down 18% in Q3 2015 from previous quarter, but value of thefts up 7%

A total of 152 cargo thefts occurred in the third quarter of 2015, with an average loss value per incident of US$199,467, FreightWatch International said last week.

During the third quarter, 63 incidents occurred in July, 57 in August and 32 in September, FreightWatch International’s Supply Chain Intelligence Center said in its U.S. Cargo Theft Report.

Compared with the previous quarter, there was an 18% decrease in volume and a 7% increase in value. Compared with the same quarter last year (Q3 2014), this represented a 24% decrease in volume and a 38% decrease in value.

“The value for Q3-2014, however, was skewed by a single large facility theft; if this value is removed as an outlier, the decrease in average value from Q3-2014 to Q3-2015 becomes 3%,” the report noted. “It should also be noted that the amount of thefts valued at over one million dollars was recorded at nine for Q3-2014 and five for Q2-2015, with one reported in Q3-2015 as of the publication of this report.”

The report noted that California ranks as the top state for cargo theft, with 20% of total thefts in Q3 2015, representing a 6% decrease from Q2 2015’s total and a decrease of 26% from Q3 2014’s total. Texas, with 16% of the total came in second in Q3 2015, with Florida a close third at 15% of the total.

The report said that incidents involving “theft of full truckload” continued to be the most prevalent method of theft during the third quarter of this year, with 81% of all reported thefts. Full truckload thefts represented an average loss value of $206,278.

Despite an overall 18% drop in incident count from the previous quarter, two product types experienced elevated theft volume from the previous quarter as well as the same quarter last year. Pharmaceuticals increased its count of theft over both the previous quarter of Q2 2015 and the same quarter of last year (Q3 2015), by 125% and 350%, respectively. In terms of theft volume, Tobacco rose by 50% and 200% over Q2 2015 and Q3 2014, respectively.