2023 Supply Chain Risk Trends Analysis

JERSEY CITY, N.J., January 16, 2024  - CargoNet recorded 2,852 events across the United States and Canada in 2023, a 59% increase year-over-year.  Sixty-two percent of events involved theft of a full or part of a shipment with an average estimated value of $188,617 per event and an estimated total of $331.9 million.

Theft by deception schemes were the prominent threat to safe freight transportation this year. In 2023, CargoNet recorded 576 fictitious pickup events, far above the average of 66 per year since 2012. Associated identity fraud complaints rose 438% year-over-year as logistics companies banded together to share information of failed attempts by identity thieves to bid on stolen shipments.

 

CargoNet recorded increases in all of the top 8 states - ranging from 5% in Georgia to 112% in Illinois. California recorded the most events in 2023, 887. A majority of events took place in Southern California in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, or Riverside Counties. Texas had the second most events recorded this year, 319. CargoNet recorded a 40% increase in theft of an unattended vehicle and/or cargo in the state and 56 more fictitious pickups compared to 2022. Illinois recorded the most fraud events of any other state or province with 88 events. Theft of an unattended vehicle and/or cargo held steady compared to 2022, but CargoNet recorded more burglaries to loaded trailers and more fictitious pickups than last year.

 In the immediate future, CargoNet expects the same theft threats to continue including:

• Fictitious pickups and other non-delivery schemes, primarily affecting California but extending across the continental United States.
• Continued targeted burglaries to high-end electronics shipments on the road or rail in Southern California and parts of the I-40 and I-10 corridors in Arizona and New Mexico.
• Non-delivery schemes setup by actors that allegedly purchase existing motor carriers.
• Theft of loaded, unattended trailers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, particularly along the I-820 Loop in Fort Worth.
• Theft and pilferages of loaded, unattended trailers in the Atlanta Metro Area.
• Theft of loaded, unattended trailers in the New Jersey, New York, and Northeastern Pennsylvania Area.
• Possible targeted theft of trailers departing from high-end electronics, apparel, and beauty shippers in the Eastern half of the United States, particularly in the Southeast.