FORNEY, Tex. — Georgia and Texas were the two U.S. states with the highest rates of cargo theft, according to a survey conducted by transport security firm LoJack Supply Chain Integrity (LoJack SCI). 

Most incidents take place in truckstops and parking lots, and weekends are the most likely time for cargo theft, with food, pharmaceuticals and building supplies are the most likely targets, the study notes.

LoJack’s first annual cargo theft study is based on information the company collected and analyzed from about 1,500 members in nearly 600 organizations in 2008 via its Supply Chain-Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

The top five states with the
worst theft were all in the south U.S.,
a supply chain security firm states in a report

Among the top five, there was a large gap between Texas (68 incidents), Georgia (54), and the next three highest states: Tennessee (18), and California and Florida with 16 each.

Other than truckstops (83 incidents) and parking lots (67), owners’ facilities, parked on the street (28) and at warehouses (21) were all cited as location for frequent theft.

While food was the most often stolen cargo (13 percent of the incidents reported), the unusually high percentage of building supplies thefts may be due in part to the rise in copper prices and the lack of oversight on the origins of scrap materials, the study noted.

"According to our analysis of the data, food and drugs are essentials that are always a target of thieves, but especially so in a depressed economy," said Robert Furtado, LoJack SCI’s Chief Executive Officer. "That may explain why those items topped the list, while ‘nice-to-have’ items like music, movies and software came in at only 1 percent."