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Container handlers fear crime ring
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
A spate of missing cargo containers may not a crime wave make, but local transportation firms are worried that recent losses from container yards throughout communities surrounding the Port of Charleston could signal the resurgence of an organized theft ring that plagued area logistics businesses six years ago.
North Charleston police are investigating the reported thefts of containers last month from the Neal Brothers and TFX Inc. facilities on the grounds of the former Charleston Naval Base.
Earlier in September, another container had been reported missing by Commercial Transportation Inc. of Charleston.
While that container was subsequently recovered, a review of a year’s worth of data culled from the Charleston Motors Carriers Association’s e-mail listserv revealed a steady stream of reports of missing containers from trucking and logistics companies in the region.
In August, container and freight shipped by the Hanjin Line was taken from a logistics facility on Cross County Road in North Charleston. A month earlier, another local firm was looking for a container and chassis that went missing after being dropped in a container pool in
Anderson, and five other containers were reported missing from various facilities in April and May.
Given the early stage of the investigation into the latest two containers that remain missing—one empty, the other loaded with medical X-ray film—Sgt. John Reynolds of the North Charleston Property Crimes unit said it’s still too soon to tell whether an organized effort is manifesting itself again.
“Missing cargo containers are a problem we have every now and then and it does seem to come in waves,” Reynolds said. “But we’re continuing to monitor the situation. If the activity begins to escalate and the containers being targeted start to contain things like DVD players and other electronics, then we’ll start to worry.”
It’s happened before
But Patrick Barber, president of both Superior Transportation in Charleston and the Charleston Motors Carriers Association, said the recent thefts are reminiscent of similar heists that occurred in the area shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Barber lost two containers that year, one containing foodstuffs, the other tires; a neighbor at the time, the B.W. Mitchum Trucking Co., which has since moved to Mount Pleasant, lost two containers of chickens, he said.
Although no one was ever arrested in connection with those thefts, several of the missing containers were ultimately recovered, without their contents, in the Miami area.
Law enforcement officials told Barber that the thefts appeared to be the work of a crime ring there.
Greg Gorno, president of Brownstone, Mich.-based Gorno Transportation, said he’s also been told that “a quite organized cargo theft ring operates out of (the Miami) area.”
Gorno, who operates logistics facilities in Charleston, Savannah, Charlotte and Atlanta, said he’s lost six import container loads between Charleston and Savannah during the last five years.
“The losses amount to almost $1 million in cargo,” he said.
Barber and other victims of those crimes tried to get federal investigators involved in those cases, citing the fact that the stolen property had traveled over state lines. At the time federal resources were stretched thin as a result of the terrorist attacks.
“Being one of six yards that was victimized over a six- to eight-week period back in 2002, it was frustrating, but let’s face it, the theft of containers is not a violent crime,” Barber said.
Insider information
Both Sgt. Reynolds and Barber said what’s so frustrating about cargo theft is that it’s so obviously perpetrated by criminals with accomplices inside the supply chain, including individuals with knowledge of the contents of specific containers and “rogue truckers” who actually carry them off.
Barber said when his yard was robbed five years ago, video surveillance cameras installed at his facility captured images of trucks with no identifying figures and license plates that had been covered up. What’s more, the drivers of the vehicles bypassed empty containers and those filled with more bulky and unique types of goods.
“They want things that can easily be sold at flea markets or at tent sales, or even as they’re driving down the street,” Barber said.
To get containers all the way to Miami takes a special kind of knowledge, Barber said.
“To steal them and transport them any appreciable distance, you have to know the system,” he explained. “You have to cross a weigh station on (Interstate) 26, and if you’re going to Miami or any other state, you have to cross several more on Interstate 95.
“To do that, you have to have a valid tag on the tractor and valid credentials as a driver. You also have to be smart enough to be able to dummy the paperwork for the cargo in case you’re asked to present it anywhere along the line. That’s why these are never casual
crimes.”
Reynolds said trucking and warehousing companies should step up their efforts to make sure their lots are secured, something he acknowledged is difficult in an industry where nighttime pickups of cargo are increasingly common and yards are traditionally secured by chains and padlocked fences.
Reynolds recommended that businesses establish 24-hour surveillance and noted that a cost-effective way of doing so is to install video surveillance cameras. He said having an on-site guard is helpful but acknowledged that many businesses cannot afford to hire one.
After the 2001 outbreak of thefts, Barber estimated the cost of having a guard at his facility would be $110,000 per year, based on a wage of $22 an hour.
Nothing is foolproof
Jimmie Gianoukos, president and CEO of ATS Logistics Inc. of Charleston, also lost a container in the 2002 rash of container thefts, but he described the theft as one of those oddities that happen from time to time.
Like Neal Brother, the container ATS lost five years ago was empty. Why do thieves take empty containers?
“Because even an empty is useful to somebody,” Gianoukos said. “There are some people who actually use them as sheds for their agricultural and landscaping equipment.”
When Gianoukos has a load of value and it has to be stored for any length of time, he transfers the cargo to his highly secure warehouse, he said.
“That’s a luxury true trucking firms don’t have, but, you know, everyone does all they can do,” he said. “The problem is nothing is absolutely foolproof. You can put up a fence, but fences tend to keep only the honest people out.
“Security cameras are deterrents, but then I also know of trucking firms who had security cameras who have still lost items from their lots,” Gianoukos said.
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.
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