Food and beverage products led all stolen commodity categories, followed by agriculture, electronics, automotive parts, construction materials, and metals.
Trucks remain the dominant target, accounting for 70% of all incidents globally, and more than a fifth of global cargo theft incidents involved the cooperation of insiders. Brazil, Mexico, India, the U.S., Indonesia, Chile, China, Germany, and South Africa ranked as the world’s top countries for recorded cargo theft incidents.
Rail cargo theft in the U.S. rose to 10% in 2025. Organized criminal groups – including cartels operating out of Sinaloa, Mexico – carried out coordinated attacks on freight trains across rural areas of Arizona and California, employing deliberate system sabotage, detailed advance planning, and armed encounters with law enforcement.
Technology-enabled theft also grew more sophisticated, with criminals exploiting cybersecurity weaknesses, fraudulent documents, and impersonation tactics to carry out fictitious pickups, double and triple brokering, and product hostage schemes.
In Europe, Germany, Italy, the U.K., France, and Spain reported the greatest number of thefts. Facility thefts rose notably – particularly in Italy, Germany, Romania, and Bulgaria. In the U.K., cargo theft losses reached $149 million in 2024. A $9 million smartphone heist at Heathrow airport ranked among the highest-value incidents.
In Asia, India, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam were the region’s most affected countries. Half of all incidents occurred at warehouses and production sites. A notable emerging trend was the theft of rare earth minerals in China. Maritime risks also escalated sharply, with sea piracy incidents rising 85% in the first half of 2025 – reaching their highest levels in nearly a decade.
Criminal groups are targeting every link in the chain – from unsecured parking spaces and rest stops to exploitable digital freight platforms.
Enhanced GPS tracking and tamper-evident sealing, tighter governance around load board usage, increased investment in scanning technology and cross-agency intelligence sharing, as well as heightened scrutiny of subcontracted transport providers, are all needed.
Classroom discussion questions:
- What can operations managers do to quell this threat?
- What is the main source of the thefts documented?