The problem of cargo theft is almost unfathomably huge, says Mario Possamai, a Toronto-based security consultant who has made a study of the phenomenon. Back in 2003, he estimated that it could be responsible for as much as $60 billion in losses in the U.S. alone, but it’s hard to make an accurate assessment.

“No one knows how big it is. That’s part of the problem,” he says. “There’s no central records keeping, no tracking of it. Until you have an ability to actually measure the problem, you don’t how effective what you’re doing really is.”

The police are doing what they can, but it’s not a high priority, says Possamai. There’s relatively low incidence of violence associated with cargo theft, so it tends to get put on the back burner. And who can blame them?

“Are they going to put officers in high-crime areas to protect the public or are they going to try to do some work on cargo crime? They’d like to do it all, but I think they’d probably get more support from the community if they focused on street crime and violence.”

Calls to the Peel Regional Police requesting comment were not returned.

Cargo crime is typically carried out by very organized people, says Possamai. It’s worth a lot of money so it’s worth doing it right. Theft gangs will go city to city to follow important loads and will even hire expert drivers to transport lucrative cargo from one end of the country to the other if a buyer can be lined up.

John Burdett, corporate loss prevention manager, for Toronto-based Andlauer Transportation Services (ATS), is familiar with the problem.

Prior to joining ATS, Burdett worked for a large, well-known freight and shipping company where they had “significant issues” with theft. It’s typically the white label, independent cargo companies that get hit the worst because they’re vulnerable, but “everybody has an issue with this. They just don’t advertise it.”


When Burdett joined ATS in 2005, he quickly set to updating the company’s cameras, replacing analogue models with Axis IP cameras. The cameras act as a theft deterrent, but serve other practical purposes, like monitoring for employee health and safety.

“We use them for a variety of purposes here, but basically by having almost full coverage of our warehouses, we get visibility of what’s going on,” he says. “Even if there’s no security person present, we can still go back and troubleshoot or find root causes to certain issues — whether they be operational or criminal. We’ve had success in everything from workplace accident investigations to thefts and pilferage.”

Burdett has been updating cameras steadily for the last four years: replacing analogue cameras with IP when they wear out and in some cases doing complete installs for high-priority, larger locations.

Of the 24 cargo facilities that ATS operates, seven have been completely moved over to IP. Burdett envisions that most will eventually be migrated to IP, save perhaps the small facilities (15,000 sq. ft.) where analogue is still sufficient to cover the area.