The Department of Transportation is asking for feedback on ways to help carriers, shippers and other stakeholders protect their freight.
A request for information seeks to develop “strategies and potential programs to reduce cargo theft” and provides a series of questions for the industry, law enforcement and the public.
The department aims to identify and address barriers that prevent timely detection, reporting, and responses to cargo thefts. Federal officials also hope to learn about potential practices or technologies that the DOT could initiate over the next year for theft prevention.
Cargo thefts are a growing concern that costs billions of dollars to the economy annually, the DOT said. Testimony at hearings has characterized the problem as historically high and rapidly increasing, but legislative bills from April are still waiting on Congress.
With the request for feedback, the DOT will accept responses through Oct. 20 electronically, by mail and in person. The notice, published Sept. 19, already drew several comments from individuals such as small fleet owner Leander Richmond.
“FMCSA must enforce the laws already on the books that clearly define lawful broker transactions and prohibit double brokering,” said Richmond, the leader behind the trucking advocacy group Carriers United, in his comments. “The agency should begin auditing freight broker transactions at scale—thousands per day—identifying brokers engaged in double brokering and swiftly suspending or revoking their authority.”
According to the notice, the information gathered could help the department close loopholes that allow carriers or transporters who have lost their operating authority to resume their business under different names or affiliations.
Feedback could also help improve interagency coordination among enforcement entities such as the DOT, FBI and state as well as local partners, the notice said.
