Stay Thankful by Keeping an Eye on Cargo and Warehoused Products

FreightWatch is urging manufacturers and their logistics partners to heighten security this upcoming holiday weekend to protect products in transit and in storage. Last year, the freight-monitoring company reported that "cargo crime increases by 28% over holiday periods and that Thanksgiving weekend recorded the most cargo theft activity of all holiday periods in the United States."

"Long holidays provide provide criminals with excellent opportunities to target, steal, and transport goods to their storage locations before the product is even discovered missing," writes Dan Burges, CPP, senior director, intelligence, FreightWatch, in an e-mail alert. "Holiday weekends are notorious for high volumes of cargo theft activity, especially at terminals and drop yards where loaded trailers are parked for long periods of time."

So, before shutting down tomorrow, check your alarm systems and logistics measures to ensure ongoing surveillance. According to FreightWatch:

Treat all alarm trouble signals as an intrusion alarm.

Do not rely on a backup (cellular/radio) system.

If primary alarm fails assign security officer to patrol facility exterior or have a member of management remain at the facility.

For in-transit operations, do not leave loads unattended for any reason.

For more details, visit http://www.freightwatchintl.com.