Operations

Your Nov. 30 Pre-Trip: Baiting cargo trailer thieves

Nov. 30, 2015

According to the FBI, cargo theft causes $15 to $30 billion in losses each year in the U.S. law enforcement and insurance industry, Times Union reports.

Cristina Commendatore

Here are five things worth knowing today: 1. According to the FBI, cargo theft causes $15 to $30 billion in losses each year in the U.S. law enforcement and insurance industry, Times Union reports. Now, the insurance industry is fighting back by baiting thieves with “sting trailers” loaded with cameras and GPS tracking devices. Prevention efforts and sting trailers aren’t new, but thefts tend to increase during the holiday season.2. Cheap gas and a strong economy are the driving forces behind increased motor vehicle traffic in the U.S. According to Reuters, U.S. motorists drove 3.12 trillion miles in the 12 months ending in September 2015, an increase of 3.4% from the same period last year. According to the report, traffic volume reflects changes in the driving age population, employment, incomes, economic growth and fuel prices. Reuters has more.3. Even if you’ve never driven a truck and don’t know how to drive a stick shift, you still may be eligible for a job in the long-haul trucking industry. According to The Arizona Republic, nearly 194,000 people are looking for work in Arizona. And, amid a growing truck driver shortage, four trucking companies in the Phoenix area are looking for about 200 drivers each. The Republic has more. 4. Port Metro container truck drivers in Vancouver have signed new agreements with six companies after more than a year of strikes and negotiations, CBC News British Columbia reports. The agreements, good through July 2019, include outstanding retroactive pay to be paid to drivers within 30 days, improved and fixed rates, job security protections, and better dispatching language, according to the report. CBC said that the dispute left hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cargo stranded at Vancouver terminals.5. Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe. A new report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) estimates that air pollution continues to be responsible for more than 430,000 premature deaths in Europe. The most problematic pollutants affecting human health are particulate matter (PM), ground-level ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Health impact estimates associated with long-term exposure to PM2.5 show that this pollutant was responsible for 432,000 premature deaths in Europe in 2012, a level similar to that estimated in previous years. The estimated impacts of NO2 and O3 exposure were around 75,000 and 17,000 premature deaths, respectively. This information could end up guiding more trucking industry regulations in Europe and eventually in the U.S.

About the Author

Cristina Commendatore

Cristina Commendatore was previously the Editor-in-chief of FleetOwner magazine. She reported on the transportation industry since 2015, covering topics such as business operational challenges, driver and technician shortages, truck safety, and new vehicle technologies. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.