A tip from a trucking contractor, a diligent response from the company’s transportation and supply chain professionals, and an observant security team came together to thwart the possible theft of a truckload of copper from the Miami Rod Mill recently.
The story begins with a mysterious posting on what amounts to a public bulletin board where transportation brokers post haul jobs available to truckers with their own rigs. It was spotted by someone at a trucking company Freeport regularly uses – Echo Global Logistics – which reported it to Freeport’s transportation department.
The job was to haul a large load from Miami, Arizona, to Los Angeles.
What was odd about that is Freeport is one of the few companies with facilities in Miami that move out large loads, notably rolls of finished copper from the rod mill, said Gretchen Bowers, Manager-Freight Transportation. So, it was a good bet the cargo involved Freeport.
Further adding to the mystery: None of the company’s copper rod shipments go to Los Angeles.
Freeport uses a mix of contract carriers, some of which own their trucks and others that do not but act as brokers who contract jobs out to other trucking companies or drivers. The brokers are not supposed to use public job posting boards to find drivers, but some do, Bowers said. Some also can be lax about how thoroughly they vet their drivers and subcontractors.
One of the risks of the public boards is thieves can insert themselves into the process and change the load’s destination on the paperwork to have it delivered to a warehouse where they can pick it up themselves. The switch can be done without the knowledge of the transportation broker or the driver. It’s not a new scam, Bowers said, and the trucking companies do a good job of policing the industry to keep it from happening.
A fully loaded truck of copper rod is worth close to $200,000, depending on the price of copper.
“Cargo theft is rampant right now and we just happen to have something that is desirable,” Bowers said. “We always need to be mindful of the potential threat.”
Alerted to the suspicious posting, Launjet Uhrich, Senior Logistics Analyst, Global Supply Chain–Phoenix, worked with transportation carriers and Freeport’s tracking systems to help ensure all load-protection safeguards were being followed. Oscar Gutierrez, Supervisor, Shipping–Miami notified site security about a possible switch in the works.
That warning reached Christine Lovato, Team Leader, Security–Miami, who in December was working the shipping yard where the rod is loaded onto trucks when a suspicious driver arrived.
Lovato said there were telltale signs that something was amiss. Los Angeles being listed as the final destination was one. The name of the trucking company on the vehicle did not match the name of the authorized transport company. The shipping numbers the driver produced did not match the work order.
All of it raised enough alarm bells that Lovato refused to allow the truck to be loaded, and the driver left without incident. There is no way to know for sure if this particular shipment was targeted by thieves and whether the driver believed he was filling a legitimate contract.
“We have procedures and protocols for verification of load pickups, and they have been effective many times in preventing thefts,” said John Mosher, Vice President, Global Security. “However, they are not infallible, and criminals are constantly trying to work around them. That’s why it is so important that our people are always vigilant and alert. In this case, our transportation and security teams did an outstanding job of working closely together to protect our valuable products.”