Trucking groups tell House panel cargo theft costs billions and needs federal center
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The American Trucking Associations told a House subcommittee that cargo theft and ‘strategic’ theft are escalating—costing the industry millions per day—and urged passage of CORCA to create a national coordination center and link state and local investigations.
The American Trucking Associations told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Dec. 17 that cargo theft has reached levels that threaten carriers and consumers and requires federal leadership.
Chris Spear, president and CEO of the ATA, said trucking companies incur direct losses and secondary costs such as higher insurance and security expenses. "Brazen thieves are robbing our industry to the tune of $18,000,000 a day," Spear said, adding that strategic cyber tactics have produced a 1,500% increase in certain electronic diversion thefts since 2021. He urged Congress to support legislation such as the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) and a cargo theft coordination center to centralize reporting and investigations.
Why it matters: Spear and other witnesses described two distinct categories of theft: straight theft (physical attacks on trailers or trucks) and strategic theft (cyber‑enabled diversion and double‑brokering). Strategic theft allows criminals to learn shipment contents, impersonate carriers or brokers, and divert loads across states or into containers destined for export.
Evidence and examples: Spear and Scott McBride of American Eagle cited specific incidents: large seizures in port containers destined for export, RFID tracing of goods stolen from dozens of stores across multiple states, and coordinated smash‑and‑grab attacks. Spear said small carriers—many with 10 trucks or fewer—lack tools to detect diversions and would benefit from shared national analysis and fast information flows.
Policy proposals: Witnesses argued for a centralized federal platform to aggregate reports, link incidents across jurisdictions, and give prosecutors the evidence to pursue higher‑level actors. Committee members pressed witnesses on border and immigration links; witnesses said the southern border can be a factor but stressed that much strategic theft is electronic and transnational, originating outside the U.S.
Next steps: The committee will accept additional written questions for the record. Witnesses suggested further briefings and data submissions to substantiate numeric loss estimates.