Warnings about increased cargo theft during the Christmas season appear to have been well founded, as a shipment of live lobsters went missing recently.
The shipment, said to be worth some $400,000, was headed from Taunton, Massachusetts to Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota when iot went missing. It went missing Wednesday or Thursday, according to reports.
An official for the company making the shipment said he believes the theft was the work of an organized cargo theft ring that specializes in high-value goods.
The FBI is said to have joined the investigation.
The theft of high-value items by organized rings of cargo thieves have plagued the U.S. trucking industry for the past several years. It accelerated in 2024 and continued to increase throughout 2025.
Recent research by the American Transportation Research Institute values the daily loss to cargo theft at $18 million.
