Washington, D.C. — When cargo goes missing, the loss doesn’t stay with the company that was robbed. It shows up in shipping costs, in empty shelves, and eventually in what people pay at the store. That’s why organized cargo theft, which is growing fast and getting more sophisticated, has become a priority for the entire supply chain.

GoRail recently brought together leaders from trucking, retail, and freight rail, along with congressional staff, for The Cost of Organized Theft: A Conversation on Cargo, Retail and CORCA. The webinar focused on the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, bipartisan legislation designed to improve how federal, state, and local law enforcement respond to organized theft across the supply chain.

“This is not just one industry’s issue,” said GoRail National Field Director Brett Sebastian, who moderated the discussion. “It’s a supply chain issue.”

A Problem That’s Growing Fast

Reported cargo theft losses across the U.S. and Canada reached nearly $725 million in 2025, a 60% increase over the previous year. In the second quarter of this year alone, losses topped $300 million, more than double the same period in 2025.

Freight rail is seeing the same trend. The Association of American Railroads’ Hannah Matesic said railroads recorded 65,000 theft incidents in 2024, with more than $100 million in losses. In 2025, incidents rose to 75,000 while at the same time total losses doubled, reflecting the fact that thieves are increasingly sophisticated in targeting high-value goods.

These are not random crimes of opportunity, Matesic underscored. Thieves have used  train manifests to identify rail cars carrying electronics or other high-resale goods, and then cut air brakes or tamper with signals to stop trains.

Railroads are also seeing more armed robberies, which puts employees at risk. Class I railroads maintain their own special police forces and invest heavily into crime prevention measures like drones, fencing, and lighting. But with 140,000 miles of track, Matesic said, “we are operating with a hand tied behind our back.”

Theft Has Moved Online

Sean Garcia of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) described a major shift in how cargo is stolen. Traditional theft, such as stealing from the back of a truck, is still happening. But “strategic” theft, which relies on fraud, identity theft, and falsified credentials to trick shippers and carriers into handing over loads, has grown from about 2.5% of cargo theft incidents in 2018 to roughly 25% by 2023.

Garcia pointed to a recent report on thieves hacking into freight broker accounts, posting fake shipments, and taking control of carriers’ systems through a single link. “You don’t need to actually, physically be present,” he said. ATA estimates that cargo theft costs the trucking industry roughly $18 million a day, and that those costs ultimately show up in what consumers pay on the shelf.

The retail side is facing its own version. Evan Armstrong of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) described organized groups that steal blank gift cards, tamper with them, and return them to the rack. Once a customer loads $50 or $100, the funds are drained. Retailers like Target have redesigned their card technology to stop it, he said, but fake balance-check websites are a growing concern.

Why It’s So Hard to Prosecute

The common thread across industries is jurisdiction. Garcia noted that in Memphis, a major cargo hub, a truck can be in one of three states within 30 minutes. Matesic said a theft can happen in one state, be discovered in a second, and end with an arrest in a third. Reporting standards also differ from place to place, so there’s no consistent way to see the full picture.

The consequences are plain. Railroads estimate that only about one in ten cargo theft attempts ends in an arrest. Matesic described one individual arrested 17 times and still released. “If you know that you’re not going to be arrested for it, why wouldn’t you rob a train?” she asked.

What CORCA Would Do

Max West, legislative assistant to Rep. Dave Joyce, who leads the House version of the bill, said CORCA would create a center focused on organized retail and supply chain crime; coordinate federal, state, and local efforts; improve information sharing; and strengthen the legal tools available to disrupt criminal financing and prosecute large enterprises.

Garcia said the goal is to help law enforcement “see the forest for the trees.” The same networks involved in cargo theft also appear in drug trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes, and Garcia said federal expertise is particularly needed for cybercrime, which is often beyond what local departments can handle on their own.

Where Things Stand

CORCA passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously in January and passed the full House on May 12 by a vote of 340-60. It has more than 200 House cosponsors, making it one of the most co-sponsored bills in the chamber, West said.

The next step is the National Defense Authorization Act. West said supporters have made the case that secure logistics networks are a national security matter, because the same trucks, railroads, and distribution centers that move consumer goods also support the defense industrial base. The Senate version of CORCA has been attached to the NDAA, and Anthony Reynolds of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Chairman Grassley’s office is “cautiously optimistic” that a final bill can be completed during the lame-duck session.

Reynolds said the two versions are largely identical, but there are differences, including how organized crime is defined, which agencies hold leadership roles, and how long the new center is authorized to operate. His reading was that the House version provides seven years and the Senate version three. He said both would be a step forward, and he encouraged stakeholders with a preference to share it with House and Senate offices as negotiators work out a final bill.

The Bottom Line on Cargo Theft

Armstrong, Garcia, Matesic, West, and Reynolds came from different industries and different sides of the Capitol, but they made the same point: this is an affordability issue, a worker safety issue, and a national security issue. As West put it, the coalition behind CORCA is the most united he has worked with in his time on the Hill.

That unity is a big reason the bill has come this far. Whether it crosses the finish line this year will depend, in part, on whether lawmakers keep hearing from the people it would affect.

Want to help get CORCA across the goal line? Rail Champions can send a message to their members of Congress in support of the bill through GoRail’s Action Center: gorail.quorum.us/campaign/passCORCA. To get updates on the legislation and other ways to get involved, sign up as a Rail Champion.