Cargo Theft Losses Rise 39%: Port Supplier Checks

Cargo theft losses across Canada and the US rose 39% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, even as reported incidents fell sharply, according to The Loadstar. The same report says organised criminal networks are increasingly exploiting identity fraud, carrier impersonation and weak freight verification.

For a ship chandler, port agent or repair yard, the commercial effect is not a claim on someone else's container. It is the paperwork and identity checks that now sit in front of a delivery, a launch or a cash-on-delivery order at a North American port.

What happened in Q3 2026

The Loadstar reported on 6 November 2026 that cargo theft losses in North America were up 39% year on year, while the number of reported incidents declined. The driver it names is a shift in method: criminals are using identity fraud and carrier impersonation rather than relying on volume of attacks.

That pattern is consistent with how maritime crime is studied elsewhere. A 2025 paper in LEGAL BRIEF on narcotics smuggling in maritime areas found that most narcotics enter Indonesia by sea using increasingly advanced smuggling techniques, while enforcement is hampered by limits in staff, surveillance infrastructure and inter-agency coordination. The lesson for suppliers is that the weak point is often verification capacity, not the number of criminal attempts.

Why fewer incidents can mean bigger losses

Fewer, larger, better-disguised thefts are harder to stop at the gate. A fraudster who can pass as a legitimate carrier or consignee does not need to force a container open; they need a plausible email, a copied company identity and a driver who looks right on arrival.

That puts the burden on the parties who release cargo or authorise a service. For port agents, that means confirming who is asking for a PDA (port disbursement account, the cost estimate an agent issues before a port call) and who is entitled to see it. For chandlers, it means checking that a delivery instruction comes from the technical or purchasing superintendent who actually owns the order, not from a lookalike address.

What maritime service providers should check before the ETA

The ETA (estimated time of arrival) is the point where most supplier commitments become expensive to reverse. Build verification into the days before it, not the hours after it.

• Confirm the company, not just the email. Match the requesting domain, phone number and signatory against the vessel's registered owner, manager or charterer before releasing quotes, PDAs or delivery slots.
• Verify the carrier or haulier. For any landside movement, confirm the trucking company and driver against a known list, not against the name given on the booking.
• Keep a named contact per role. Operations, technical and purchasing roles have different authority. A request that skips the usual role is a reason to call, not to proceed.
• Log the change. If bank details, delivery addresses or contact people change close to the ETA, treat it as a new request and re-verify.

The research on maritime anomaly detection supports the same principle. A 2021 study in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems showed that an automatic detector applied to AIS reports from the Ever Given could have been triggered 19 minutes before the grounding in the Suez Canal. The value of automated checks is early warning on a deviation from normal behaviour, not a perfect prediction.

Where the wider market adds pressure

Cargo crime is one of several forces changing how North American port work is booked. Naval and government demand is rising at the same time. The Indian Navy has taken delivery of INS Amini, the fifth of eight anti-submarine shallow water craft, according to Marine Insight. More naval movements mean more port calls with tighter security and identity requirements.

Offshore and survey activity is also shifting. DenAr Ocean Engineering Services has been awarded a contract by Türkiye's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to carry out work on the country's first offshore wind site investigation programme, Offshore Energy reported. New survey campaigns create new port calls for vessels that need chandlery, bunkers and agency work.

Finland, meanwhile, expects to operate at least as many icebreakers in the coming decades as it does today, despite warming winters, according to a government-commissioned report cited by gCaptain. That signals sustained demand for ice-class support work at northern ports.

None of these stories is about cargo theft directly. Together they show a North American and northern European port market where security, identity and documentation are becoming part of the service specification, not an afterthought.

How to respond commercially

Suppliers who can show a clean verification process win work that others lose to delays and disputes. Three practical moves:

1. Put verification in the quote. State which contact role authorises a delivery, which documents are required and what happens if details change after the ETA.
2. Use one record per vessel and company. Keep the owner, manager, charterer and local agent separate so a request from the wrong party is visible immediately.
3. Train the first responder. The person answering WhatsApp or email at 22:00 is the control point. Give them a short script and a named escalation contact.

The port state control detention work that follows a failed inspection shows how quickly a documentation gap becomes a commercial problem. Cargo theft verification is the same discipline applied to commercial release.

How VesselReach helps

VesselReach turns vessel movements at your target ports into verified conversations with the right company and role, before the ETA.

• AI company targeting identifies the owner, manager or charterer behind each vessel, which means you can confirm who is entitled to instruct you before a delivery slot is committed.
• Decision-maker discovery finds operations, technical, purchasing and commercial contacts by role, which means a request that skips the usual signatory stands out.
• Multichannel outreach and follow-ups keep email, WhatsApp and phone contact in one record, which means changes close to the ETA are visible instead of buried in a personal inbox.

Book a VesselReach demo to see how it works on your ports.