Dive Brief:
- Thieves pulled off a "sophisticated" robbery of $150,000 in maple syrup from a Montreal trucking yard, The Canadian Press reports. The 13,000 liters of syrup were destined for Japan.
- This is not the first time containers full of syrup were stolen in Montreal: four years ago millions of dollars worth of syrup were stolen from a warehouse in the northwest part of the city. The recent theft marks the yard's second incident of cargo theft in two months—last time it was a container hockey gloves.
- Mexuscan Cargo isn't waffling. The company is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to recovery of the pancake topping.
Dive Insight:
Cargo theft may be one of the supply chain's most serious disrupters, and although maple syrup and hockey gloves make for a light Canadian reading, cargo theft appears to be rising in the U.S. as well.
A second quarter CargoNet report of U.S. cargo thefts reported about $39 million was stolen in the three month period, up $1.3 million from a year earlier. In addition, the average value of the thefts appeared to be increasing—one theft was valued at $8 million.
The report adds warehouse and distributions are the most common victims for cargo thefts, with 53 reported at those locations in the most recent quarters. Food and beverages were the most frequent stolen goods and 59% of the incidents occurred in CA or TX.
