Hundreds of millions lost in stolen cargo, rates spike in 2025

Thefts in Canada’s transportation sector have skyrocketed, with truck and trailer thefts nearly doubling in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same time last year.

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Thefts in Canada’s transportation sector have skyrocketed, with truck and trailer thefts nearly doubling in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same time last year, according to data compiled by the Équité Association.

The non-profit association collaborates with Canada’s property insurers to combat theft and fraud, and found that truck thefts had increased from 591 to 984 year-over-year.

Meanwhile, trailer thefts rose from 383 to 638 over that same period.

The data collected from insurers, transportation firms, retailers, and law enforcement also saw cargo thefts increase slightly from 132 to 139 over the same timeframe.

“If 638 trailers were stolen, but only 139 loads were reported missing, that suggests nearly 500 empty trailers went missing — an unlikely scenario,” director of Investigative Services Équité Association, Sid Kingma, told Financial Post on Wednesday.

According to Kingma, these figures are likely conservative as many thefts go unreported, due to fear from the companies over reputational damage and increases in their insurance premiums.

“It’s a bit of a Wild West out there,” he said.

Last year saw a record 27 per cent jump in cargo theft across both Canada and the United States.

Kingma noted that it often proves difficult for police to track these thefts and identify recovered goods.

While vehicles have identification numbers, most cargo can’t be individually identified, making it much harder to trace.

“We can’t quantify how big the problem actually is,” he said.

Canada’s primary distribution hubs are the biggest target areas, particularly Mississauga and Brampton in Ontario, which recorded more than 3,000 thefts between 2020 and 2025.

Meanwhile, Montreal reported 371 thefts, Calgary reported about 375, and Edmonton saw 234, with about half of all stolen trucks and trailers eventually being recovered.

Although by the time stolen trucks are found, they tend to be abandoned and empty, with only 11 per cent of the stolen cargo ever recovered.

Food and other perishables vanish quickly, as they have the easiest resale value, noted Kingma.

“Sometimes they rebroker it to a legitimate carrier, then change the delivery location once the load is on the road,” he said, adding that organized crime groups are increasingly putting efforts into this illicit activity.

This is in part due to the lenient penalties that await if one’s caught by authorities, as offenders typically only face general theft or fraud counts, even when their stolen goods are valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“It’s a high-reward, low-risk type of crime,” said Kingma. “If you steal the right product, it can be really high value.”

There is also little backlash from the general public, as cargo theft rarely affects individuals directly. However, the overall economic impact is felt en masse.

“The impacts of these thefts get built back into the goods we’re purchasing at the retail level,” Kingma said.

According to Équité, $205 million has been recorded in cargo losses since 2020, and Kingma believes this is just a fraction of the actual losses.