YMX Yard Cameras Helped Retailer Trace $60,000 in Missing Cheese Loads
Computer-vision system at Arizona distribution center linked five short-count shipments to a specific truck and driver using gate footage and trailer-movement records.
YMX Logistics used gate cameras and yard-management data to help a top-five U.S. grocer investigate five cheese shipments that arrived short by a combined $60,000 in product value. The system linked the loads to a specific truck and driver, providing video evidence the retailer used to support a claim.
How did the yard system identify the driver?
The retailer knew the Minnesota supplier and shipping lanes but did not initially know which carriers or drivers had handled the five loads. YMX searched its yard-management platform using shipment information, identified carriers that had run the lanes, and pulled gate video from the relevant dates. The footage showed the trailers and drivers associated with each shipment, allowing investigators to connect all five loads to one truck and driver, according to a Sept. 18 case study from YMX.
The cameras did not establish where the pallets went missing or who removed them. Because the cameras were positioned at the retailer's facility, the records showed which trucks and drivers delivered the loads and when they entered the yard. The shortages could have occurred when the cheese was loaded by the supplier, during transportation, or after the shipments reached the retailer.
What hardware does the system use?
Cameras at the gate record trucks entering and leaving the facility. Machine-learning software captures license plates, trailer numbers, and carrier details. The system creates a digital record of truck movements that investigators can search after a shipment problem is discovered.
YMX also mounts cameras on the yard trucks that move trailers around the facility. Those cameras record where and when trailers are dropped at dock doors. Together, the data creates a record of a trailer's movements from the gate to the dock.
The computer-vision system automatically extracts information from gate footage and sends it into the yard-management platform. The technology can identify carriers from logos even when the carrier name is not clearly visible, according to YMX.
Where is the system deployed?
The unidentified retailer, which YMX said is one of the top five grocers in the U.S. with more than $145 billion in fiscal 2025 sales, is piloting the system at distribution facilities. The Arizona facility involved in the case study handles 600 to 800 truck movements a day. The retailer operates more than 2,000 stores across more than 30 U.S. states. YMX did not disclose how many distribution centers the retailer operates or identify the locations of the other facilities involved in the pilot.
The retailer is now piloting the system at two facilities, while another food distributor has begun testing it at one location, YMX said.
Why food and beverage freight?
Food and beverage freight has been particularly affected by cargo theft. Verisk CargoNet recorded 708 food and beverage thefts in 2025, up 47% from the previous year, the largest increase among the commodity categories tracked by CargoNet. Estimated cargo theft losses across all commodities reached nearly $725 million in 2025, up 60% from 2024.
CargoNet recorded 677 theft incidents in the U.S. and Canada during the second quarter of 2026, down 26% from the same period in 2025. Estimated losses, however, more than doubled to $304.6 million.
What this means for distribution-yard visibility
The case shows how computer vision can give shippers more visibility into truck and trailer movements inside distribution yards, creating records that can be used to investigate missing freight and identify where losses may have occurred. The expansion reflects a broader push by shippers to bring more automation and visibility into the yard, where information about trucks, trailers, and freight has traditionally been spread across gate logs, spreadsheets, transportation systems, and manual checks.
For cargo-security teams, linking those records can provide another way to reconstruct what happened after a shipment enters a facility, particularly when a problem is not discovered until the freight reaches its destination. YMX was unable to discuss who the claim was filed against or its outcome.
