November 05, 2025
Cargo theft getting costly for trucking & overall transport industry
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) recently released new research on the growing problem of cargo theft.
The research details cargo theft data from motor carriers, logistics service providers (LSPs), insurers and other stakeholders to understand and quantify the scale and causes of cargo theft.
The research documents the high cost of theft to both motor carriers - who average more than $520,000 in annual theft losses, and to LSPs - who average more than $1.84 million in annual losses. The annualized cargo theft cost to the industry is as high as $6.6 billion, or more than $18 million per day.
"Unfortunately, we've reached a point where cargo theft has become a standard cost of doing business for trucking companies, with consumers ultimately footing the bill for many billions of dollars in losses. Something must be done to stop these costly crimes," said Ben Banks, President of TCW Inc. "ATRI's new research on cargo theft puts real-world numbers to the issue and will hopefully motivate stakeholders to act quickly on solutions."
The report goes on to recommend counter-strategies that include the development of security culture within motor carriers and across the supply chain; Enacting model state legislation, including specific cargo theft penalties; and developing a federal-level centralized cargo theft reporting agency. The full report is available on ATRI's website here.
Source: ATRI