Cargo theft is getting smarter, quieter, and easier to mistake for normal business and that’s exactly why it’s so dangerous. A compromised email, a clean-looking bill of lading, a driver who seems legitimate, and suddenly a real shipment is delivered straight to a criminal with everyone thinking they did their job. That’s the modern reality of supply chain security, and it’s hitting freight brokers and shippers especially hard.

We sit down with Scott Cornell, Chief Risk Officer at SPG Cargo and Logistics and one of the leading cargo theft and transportation crime specialists in the United States. Scott breaks down the difference between straight cargo theft (physical theft, pilferage, stolen trailers) and strategic cargo theft (deception-first schemes like double brokering, MC number fraud, identity theft, and email compromise). We dig into why food and beverage is such a popular target, how criminals “launder” freight through paperwork, and why a broken seal can turn a recovery into a total loss.

We also zoom out to the systems problem: cargo theft is often misclassified in law enforcement data, which means the true scale is hard to measure. Scott explains why the CORCA legislation matters, what better reporting could unlock for investigators and prosecutors, and how organizations like TAPA Americas raise the bar with security standards, intelligence sharing, and summits that bring industry and law enforcement into the same room. If you’re responsible for freight, compliance, risk, or operations, you’ll leave with clearer red flags, better questions to ask at pickup, and a stronger sense of what “respond immediately” really means.

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🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

The FMC is back at full power, and if that sounds like inside baseball, it is actually a real operational shift for global ocean shipping. With Bob Harvey sworn in, all five Federal Maritime Commission seats are filled again, which restores the agency’s full voting strength for rulemakings, adjudicatory decisions, and enforcement direction under the Shipping Act. We walk through how the FMC is structured, why staggered terms and bipartisan limits matter, and what changes when the commission is no longer stuck at four members.

We also introduce Commissioner Harvey in plain English: a sharp legal mind with deep experience in economic development, finance tools, public private partnerships, and emerging technology, plus a US Navy JAG background. That mix pairs well with Chairman Laura DiBella’s business first framing of competition, customer choice, and practical outcomes for the shipping public. The bigger takeaway is simple: the FMC sits where law meets markets, and the people in those five chairs shape how the ocean transportation marketplace gets regulated.

Then we turn to a surprisingly revealing budget hearing with MARAD and the FMC. MARAD is focused on ships, shipyards, mariners, ports, and the industrial base, but the thread that ties it together is cargo. You cannot build maritime capacity without consistent cargo to support the business case, and that is where the FMC’s mandate becomes part of a national maritime strategy. We unpack the Maritime Security Trust Fund proposal tied to the SHIPS Act, what it could fund, and what happens if the funding “bucket” never becomes real.

Finally, we hit practical guidance: the FMC’s $40 million budget request, why staffing and IT modernization matter for a small agency, and why CADRS (the FMC’s free mediation and dispute resolution service) can help shippers and carriers avoid expensive, slow complaints. Subscribe, share the episode with a maritime colleague, and leave a review so more people can find clear, usable ocean shipping regulation analysis.

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🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast

Ships don’t move cargo, people do and when we forget that, every “maritime dominance” plan turns into a slogan. National Maritime Day gives us the perfect excuse to zoom out from vessels and policy memos and look at the real engine of ocean shipping: the workforce that loads, unloads, builds, maintains, sails, and regulates the system.

We sit down with Federal Maritime Commissioner Max Vekich, whose career starts where the job is hardest and least forgiving: the waterfront. He shares what it’s like to grow up in a union port town, how longshore hiring halls actually work, why maritime labor can be feast or famine, and how one tragic safety incident on his very first day leaves a mark that never fades. That lived experience follows him into public service and eventually into the Federal Maritime Commission, bringing a perspective the industry rarely gets to hear inside a regulator’s walls.

Along the way, we also flag timely FMC updates that shape ocean shipping regulations and supply chain resilience, including the National Shipper Advisory Committee (NSAC) and what proposed rulemaking process changes could mean for industry input. Then we widen the lens to the big picture: rebuilding American maritime strength, protecting freedom of navigation, and filling critical maritime jobs across ports, shipyards, and vessels. If you’re curious about maritime careers, you’ll leave with concrete next steps, including TWIC, Coast Guard credentialing, union apprenticeships, and Military to Mariner pathways.

Subscribe, share this with someone who works in shipping, and leave a review. What part of the maritime workforce do you think the U.S. is most at risk of losing next?

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Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

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🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to By Land and By Sea powered by The Maritime Professor®! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe ⭐ and leave a review 📝 - it really helps others find the show.

📚 Want to go deeper? Check out our live webinars, on-demand e-courses, and our Just-in-Time Learning™ sessions -- short, plain-language lessons (30 minutes or less) built for supply chain pros who need quick clarity.

🚢 Looking for something tailored? We also provide custom corporate trainings designed to meet your team’s needs.

⚓ Learn more and explore past episodes at: www.TheMaritimeProfessor.com/podcast