Cargo theft across the Europe region can cost almost €2.0 million every 24 hours, according to figures reported by Air Cargo Week — a daily loss rate that puts annual exposure to theft in the region into the hundreds of millions of euros.

For airlines, forwarders, ground handlers and insurers, that number frames the risk in operational terms. A sustained loss rate of nearly €2 million per day compounds to roughly €700 million over a full year, before accounting for the disruption costs that follow a theft: claims processing, shipment replacement, security reviews and the network consequences of rerouted or delayed cargo.

Why does the figure matter now?

Air cargo security economics usually focus on screening, tamper detection and regulatory compliance. The reported daily theft cost shifts attention to the physical movement of freight — road feeder legs, warehouse dwell time and handovers between handlers — where high-value shipments are most exposed.

At a loss rate approaching €2 million per day, theft is not a marginal insurance issue. It is a recurring cost of doing business that carriers and logistics providers must price into contracts, security budgets and network planning.

What drives the exposure?

The reported figure aggregates losses across the Europe region rather than a single corridor or commodity. That breadth points to a persistent, region-wide problem rather than isolated incidents — one that affects:

• The owners of stolen goods, who absorb the direct loss
• Carriers and forwarders, who face claims and liability disputes
• Insurers, who price the risk into cargo coverage
• Shippers of high-value freight, who bear premium and service consequences

How might the industry respond?

Daily losses at this scale typically push stakeholders toward tighter custody controls, better tracking of shipments in transit and faster information sharing when a theft occurs. The scale of the figure gives carriers, insurers and law enforcement a common baseline for measuring whether mitigation efforts actually reduce losses.

Unless the underlying theft rate falls, the region's air cargo supply chain will continue carrying a cost burden approaching €2 million for every day of operation.