America’s Freight Is Under Attack. It Will Take All of Us to Protect It.

By Donna Lemm, Chief Strategy Officer, IMC Logistics

On Christmas Eve last year, thieves made off with $400,000 worth of Costco lobsters while the shipment was in transit from Massachusetts. In another case, thieves stole a trailer loaded with more than $15 million in electronics from a warehouse lot in Reno in less than 15 minutes.

Those aren’t isolated incidents. They’re part of a growing pattern.

Last year, I testified before Congress about organized cargo theft. My message was simple: this is no longer opportunistic crime. We’re no longer dealing with thieves looking for an easy opportunity. We’re dealing with organized criminal enterprises that view America’s supply chain as a profitable business.

Today’s cargo thieves do far more than steal unattended cargo. They impersonate legitimate freight brokers, spoof email domains, create fake companies, fabricate shipping documents, and dispatch drivers with counterfeit credentials to pick up cargo they were never authorized to move. By the time anyone realizes what’s happened, the freight has disappeared into an illegitimate market that often stretches well beyond state and even national borders.

The numbers tell the story. Experts estimate cargo theft costs the U.S. supply chain as much as $35 billion annually. Strategic cargo theft, including fictitious pickups and identity fraud, has increased more than 1,500% since 2021.

The cargo being stolen isn’t always high-value freight. It’s food, electronics, household goods, automotive parts, agricultural exports, and other products that businesses and families rely on every day. When shipments disappear, manufacturers lose production time, retailers lose inventory, exporters miss sailing schedules, and consumers ultimately pay the price.

These incidents occurred hundreds of miles apart, but they reflect a national threat, and the maritime industry is not immune. Whether moving imports inland or preparing exports for overseas markets, ports, terminals, trucking companies, railroads, and ocean carriers all play a role in protecting freight. Every transfer of custody is an opportunity for legitimate commerce, but it is also an opportunity for organized criminals looking to exploit weaknesses.

At IMC, we’ve invested heavily in GPS tracking, surveillance systems, secure container yards, and employee training designed to detect fraud before cargo leaves our facilities. Those investments matter, but no single company can solve this problem alone.

These criminal organizations exploit the gaps between companies, jurisdictions, and law enforcement agencies. That’s why we’ve been advocating for the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA), bipartisan legislation that would establish a national coordination center to help federal, state, and local law enforcement share intelligence, identify organized theft networks, and coordinate investigations. I’m encouraged that the House overwhelmingly passed CORCA in May. Having testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on this issue, I hope senators will recognize the urgency of giving law enforcement the coordination and federal resources needed to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.

At the same time, we’ve been working with industry partners, including the American Trucking Associations, the Intermodal Association of North America, the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, and our federal partners at DOT and FMCSA, to strengthen collaboration across the private/public sectors. The goal is simple: share information sooner, recognize patterns faster, and make it much harder for organized cargo theft rings to succeed.

Cargo security is another opportunity for our industry to lead together. By sharing information, strengthening partnerships, and staying one step ahead of organized criminal networks, we can better protect the freight that keeps America’s economy moving.

Protecting cargo isn’t just about reducing financial losses. It’s about protecting the integrity of America’s freight network, the people who keep it moving every day, and the businesses and consumers who depend on it.

The criminals are already working together. It’s time the rest of us do the same.

Read more about Cargo Theft in America: The Rising Threat to Supply Chain Security.

Donna Lemm is Chief Strategy Officer of IMC Logistics.