For food, pharma, and vaccines, a few degrees over a few hours can turn a full truck into a total loss. The hard part isn't measuring temperature — it's knowing, in the moment, which excursion actually matters.
By the Sentrick Cargo team · Published September 28, 2026
A stolen load is a two-part loss. The first part is the freight itself. The second part is everything that happens afterward: the scramble to prove what was shipped, what it was worth, where it was last seen, and who was responsible for it at the time. Shippers and carriers who have been through a theft often say the second part was harder than the first. The good news is that most of what makes a cargo theft claim succeed can be prepared long before anything goes missing.
Cargo theft has become a routine operational risk rather than a rare event. CargoNet, the Verisk theft-prevention network, reported roughly $725 million in estimated cargo theft losses across the U.S. and Canada for 2025, up about 60% from the prior year, with an average value per theft of around $274,000. At those amounts, the difference between a well-documented claim and a disputed one can decide whether a loss is recovered in weeks or argued over for months.
For interstate shipments in the U.S., carrier liability for lost or damaged freight is governed largely by the Carmack Amendment (49 U.S.C. § 14706), which generally holds the carrier liable for the actual loss, subject to any limits agreed in the bill of lading or contract. Two timelines are worth knowing. Carriers may not set a claim-filing deadline shorter than nine months from delivery (or from when delivery should have occurred), and they may not set a deadline shorter than two years from a written claim denial to bring a lawsuit. Federal claim-handling rules (49 CFR Part 370) also require carriers to acknowledge a written claim within 30 days and to pay, decline, or make a settlement offer within 120 days. Contracts, brokers, cargo insurance policies, and international moves add their own terms, so every shipper should review theirs with a qualified advisor — but missing a deadline is one of the most avoidable ways to lose a claim.
Speed matters, both for recovery and for the claim. Report the theft to local police immediately and get a report number; many insurers will not process a theft claim without one. Notify the carrier, broker, and insurer in writing, and keep copies. Preserve every piece of evidence — the last known location, the time the trailer or container was last confirmed secure, driver statements, gate logs, and any camera footage from the yard or stop. Then file a written claim that identifies the shipment, states the loss, and demands a specific amount, supported by invoices that prove the value. Vague or late claims are the ones that stall.
Many theft claims turn on questions that are hard to answer after the fact. When exactly did the load go missing? Was the trailer left unattended against policy? Did the route change, or did the seal get broken, before the truck stopped? A continuous monitoring record answers those questions with timestamps instead of recollection. Door-open and tamper events, route deviations, unexpected stops, and the last confirmed location give investigators a starting point for recovery and give insurers a clear, factual timeline. Just as important, a monitoring system that flags trouble in real time can shorten the window between theft and response — sometimes enough to recover the load before a claim is needed at all.
Sentrick Cargo interprets location, door, tamper, and temperature signals as behavior rather than raw data points, and expresses each shipment's risk on one five-level status — Safe, Caution, Alert, Danger, SOS. The same event history that powers real-time alerts becomes a clean, time-stamped record if a loss ever has to be documented.
You can't control every thief, but you can control how prepared you are when one strikes. Solid paperwork, known deadlines, fast reporting, and a trustworthy monitoring record turn a chaotic loss into a claim that can be proven — and give the freight a better chance of coming home in the first place. This article is general information, not legal or insurance advice.
CargoNet (Verisk), 2025 annual cargo theft analysis. 49 U.S.C. § 14706 (Carmack Amendment). 49 CFR Part 370, Principles and Practices for the Investigation and Voluntary Disposition of Loss and Damage Claims.