IN Brief:
- Overhaul recorded 605 US cargo-theft incidents during Q2 2026, averaging 6.71 each day.
- California accounted for 34% of incidents, while electronics represented 23% of targeted cargo.
- Pilferage rose to 46% of incidents, with warehouses and distribution centres the most common identified theft locations.
Overhaul recorded 605 US cargo-theft incidents during the second quarter of 2026, leaving freight crime at historically high levels despite a modest year-on-year reduction.
The total equates to an average of 202 incidents a month, or 6.71 each day. Q2 theft was 5% higher than during the first quarter but 5% below the same period in 2025, while incidents across the first half were 6% lower year on year.
Overhaul expects theft activity to increase during the second half, forecasting between 230 and 260 incidents a month, broadly in line with the levels recorded during the latter half of 2025. The company cautions against treating the recent year-on-year decline as evidence that the underlying risk has eased substantially.
The geographic concentration remains pronounced. California accounted for 34% of recorded incidents, followed by Texas at 18% and Tennessee at 13%. A wider region including southern California represented 38% of incidents, while another quadrant containing major freight centres including Dallas and Memphis accounted for 35%.
Electronics remain the leading cargo target
Electronics represented 23% of thefts during the quarter, making the category the largest identified product group. Miscellaneous freight accounted for 20%, while clothing and shoes represented 10%.
The miscellaneous category recorded particularly strong growth, increasing 38% from the first quarter and 84% year on year. That shift illustrates how product risk changes with criminal opportunity rather than remaining fixed around a small group of traditionally high-value commodities.
Electronics remain attractive because high value can be concentrated into relatively small loads and some products can be moved rapidly into secondary markets. Expanding investment in computing, data-centre, and AI infrastructure is also increasing the volume of expensive hardware moving between manufacturers, ports, integrators, warehouses, and end users.
The methods used to steal cargo are changing alongside the product mix. Pilferage accounted for 46% of incidents during Q2, up from 37% in the first quarter. Full-truckload theft represented 21%, facility theft 16%, and deceptive pickup 11%.
Pilferage involves the theft of part of a shipment rather than the complete trailer or container. That can make losses harder to detect quickly because the vehicle and most of its cargo may continue towards destination while individual cartons, pallets, or products have already disappeared.
Full-load theft and deceptive pickup present a different control problem. Where criminals use false identities, fraudulent carrier details, or manipulated collection instructions, a shipment can leave the origin facility in apparently orderly circumstances before being redirected.
The figures therefore put identity and dispatch controls alongside physical locks and tracking systems. A securely closed trailer provides little protection if it is released to the wrong vehicle or driver using convincing but fraudulent credentials.
Warehouses carry the largest location exposure
Warehouses and distribution centres were the most frequently identified theft locations, accounting for 37% of incidents where the site type was known. Truck stops and fuel stations represented 15%, while rail locations accounted for 11%.
The warehouse share shifts part of the security focus away from the motorway. Freight frequently spends time staged in trailers, yards, dock areas, cross-docks, or temporary storage while delivery windows, labour, equipment, and onward transport determine its next movement.
High-throughput facilities deliberately allow large numbers of vehicles, people, and consignments to move through controlled points quickly. Adding verification slows that process, but weak controls create opportunities for criminals using copied credentials, inside information, false collection data, or knowledge of valuable loads.
Overhaul recommends rigorous carrier and driver verification, detailed origin documentation, and tracking technology able to detect route deviations, unauthorised stops, and separation between cargo and its planned movement.
Those measures work most effectively as layers. Tracking can detect unusual movement after dispatch but cannot correct a fraudulent collection that was approved at the gate, while identity controls at origin cannot prevent every theft during a later rest stop or transfer.
The practical security model therefore has to connect booking, carrier selection, driver identity, vehicle details, collection instructions, geofencing, route monitoring, facility controls, and exception management. Weakness at any one point can undermine the controls applied elsewhere.
The 5% year-on-year reduction in quarterly incidents also needs context. Six hundred and five recorded thefts in three months remains a substantial operating loss, while the forecast of 230 to 260 incidents a month for the second half would push activity back towards the elevated levels seen last year.
Losses extend beyond the value of the missing product. A stolen shipment can generate production shortages, emergency replacement transport, insurance claims, customer-service failures, investigations, and additional inventory held to protect against uncertain supply.
The Q2 data consequently show a threat that is changing shape rather than disappearing. Electronics remain the leading target, pilferage has taken a larger share of incidents, and warehouses and distribution centres are the most common identified locations. Security measures that concentrate only on the vehicle after departure are addressing the problem after a large part of the exposure has already begun.
