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Still, Garney said replacing FMCSA’ s older systems is necessary.

“ I’ m happy that they’ re modernizing,” he said.“ I’ m just sad that the industry has to feel the pain as they go.”

FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs describes Motus— a name derived from Latin for“ motion”— as central to the agency’ s effort to stop registration fraud and identify chameleon carriers attempting to evade federal safety oversight.

“ You are not able to get into Motus without having some sort of business verification, ID verification for the individuals who are responsible for safety at those motor carriers,” Barrs said during a recent interview on SiriusXM’ s“ On the Move” news program.

Tightening US truck capacity seen slowing cargo theft, fraud

The cost of cargo theft is rising despite fewer incidents as criminals target high-value freight. Mint Images / Getty Images

By William B. Cassidy

The US truck safety crackdown that is cutting capacity and raising truck pricing is also squeezing organized cargo crime by reducing the number of truck drivers available to cargo thieves, according to Overhaul, a supply chain security and technology company.

“ We’ re seeing a little bit of a hiccup in the continued increase of... fraudulent theft,” said Danny Ramon, Overhaul’ s director of intelligence and response. That’ s because the federal crackdown on licensing is limiting the influx of

“ Lower incident volume should not be mistaken for lower risk.”

potential“ bad actors” used in fraud schemes. With“ loopholes” allowing ineligible truckers to get non-domiciled commercial driver’ s licenses( CDLs) closing, organized crime rings responsible for cargo theft are having trouble bringing in“ new actors to commit fraudulent cargo theft,” Ramon said.

“ I’ m not saying by any means that every person who held a non-domiciled CDL or does have one is a criminal actor,” he said.“ But that was the easiest way for these criminals to provide cover for a large group of people and bring them in.”

The“ hiccup” in cargo fraud and theft Ramon and Overhaul are seeing underscores the widespread impact of the US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration( FMCSA) crackdown on illegal trucking operations, including, but not limited to, licensing.

“ I think the most dramatic shift we’ re seeing is the FMCSA move to being more of an enforcement body than just a regulatory body,” Mike Beckwith, vice president of operations at transportation intermediary Odyssey Logistics, said in an interview.

Cargo thieves have also been affected by the FMCSA’ s crackdown on electronic logging devices that don’ t meet US standards.“ Drivers were able to reset their hours in the middle of the week, and if they can’ t do that, the hours they are available are reduced,” Beckwith said.

Fewer incidents, higher costs

Fraudulent cargo theft— often involving pickups by carriers not authorized to haul freight but masquerading as approved transportation partners— has grown by dou bledigit percentages in recent years. It’ s still growing, but not as fast, Ramon said in an interview.

“ There’ s not an actual drop in the volume of fraudulent theft, but there’ s a drop in the share of fraudulent theft [ as part of all theft ], and that’ s opened a little bit of a gap,” he said. In contrast,“ we see pilferage continue to climb uninterrupted,” Ramon said.

Although their data may not be directly comparable, in a report released in early August, Verisk CargoNet also noted a drop in cargo thefts in the second quarter, with the

18 Journal of Commerce | September 7, 2026 www. joc. com