Week in Review: Truckers Try Defending Against Thieves, Steph Curry Invests in Food AI

Thursday nights on Mexico’s highways have become predictable, with cargo theft incidents surging 6.1% in August. Yet while truckers steer through fake checkpoints and spike strips, the rest of logistics chases legitimacy through temperature control and tech. FedEx launches Dublin-Indianapolis pharma flights to shave a day off delivery times, Vienna Airport builds a 1,600-square-meter refrigerator that runs on solar power, and Steph Curry backs an AI startup to modernize food distribution. Even McDonald’s joined the sophistication parade, spending $200 million to convince ranchers that regenerative grazing makes better burgers. Let’s dig in!

Mexico’s Highways Turn into Crime Sprees: Cargo Theft Jumps 6.1% in August

A reported 247 tractor-trailers disappeared from the highways of the state of Mexico in August alone. Across the country, cargo theft jumped 6.1%. But while bureaucrats and security firms argue over statistics, truckers already know what matters: they’re sitting ducks between Thursday night and Friday morning.

The Midnight Grocery List Gets Expensive

Food and beverages top criminals’ shopping preferences at 27%, but construction materials jumped to 12% of all heists. Oaxaca wins the dubious honor of fastest-growing theft market with a jaw-dropping 133% increase (14 cases), while the state of Mexico maintains its crown with those 247 incidents marking a 25% monthly surge. Tractor-trailers remain the vehicle of choice for thieves (41% of all thefts), and they prefer the midnight to 6:00 a.m. window (31% of incidents)—when highways become criminal conveyor belts. The Mexico-Puebla Highway 150D and Arco Norte have become particularly notorious.

What Happens When 75% of People Think Traffic Cops Are Crooks?

Here’s where things get spicy: 75% of Mexicans believe their traffic police are corrupt, according to INEGI’s survey, jumping to 82% in the state of Mexico. Municipal and state police don’t fare much better at 65% and 64%, respectively. With trust levels that low, truckers face a reality where fake checkpoints in Puebla strip drivers of everything, and Guanajuato criminals deploy spike strips on nighttime highways like they’re welcome mats. Not ideal.

FedEx Prescribes a Faster Route for Temperature-Sensitive Cargo

FedEx just gave the healthcare shipping world a shot of adrenaline. The carrier will fire up flights between Dublin and Indianapolis to slash delivery times for pharmaceutical shipments and other high-value cargo. Chief Customer Officer Brie Carere dropped the news during a September 18 earnings call with promises that goods will arrive one day faster than current options.

The $9 Billion Health Check That’s Paying Off

FedEx’s healthcare business hit $9 billion in revenue this fiscal year, with pharma shipments driving nearly half of U.S. air export growth. That momentum required serious infrastructure: the company locked in $500 million worth of quality agreements and got temperature-control certifications for hubs from Indianapolis to Memphis, plus facilities across seven states. When Carere credited her healthcare team during the earnings call, she had the numbers to prove they’d earned it.

Everyone Wants a Piece of the Pharmaceutical Pie

That said, FedEx faces stiff competition for healthcare dollars and pressure to expand quickly. DHL already runs temperature-controlled flights out of Indianapolis, counting Siemens and Eli Lilly among its clients. UPS also wants to double its healthcare revenue by 2026. While the Dublin-Indianapolis route represents FedEx’s latest move under its Network 2.0, DRIVE, and Tricolor air freight programs, healthcare logistics has become the shipping industry’s hottest vertical.

Vienna Plays Pharma Cool

FedEx isn’t alone in chasing the $42 billion pharma cargo market. Vienna Airport saw 4,238 tons of pharmaceutical shipments in 2024—up 15% from last year and now 15% of its total cargo. But what makes Vienna different from other airports wanting a piece of the action? Other hubs chase volume; Vienna focuses on temperature control.

The Goldilocks Zone Gets Real Estate

Vienna built a 1,600-square-meter Pharma Handling Center right on the apron that runs two temperature zones (+2 to +8°C and +15 to +25°C) around the clock. Michael Zach, senior vice president of ground handling and cargo operations, watches over sealed cool sluices protecting cargo during truck transfers; refrigerated trailers shuttling across the ramp; and power-controlled, roller-bed systems moving shipments from landside to airside through high-speed doors. All that tech keeps gene therapies and biologics at perfect temperatures while Vienna’s location connects Western Europe to Asian API suppliers and cuts delivery times to Central, Eastern, and Southern European markets.

Solar Panels Meet Cold Storage

Austria’s largest solar installation also powers Vienna’s operation, and covers 50% of the airport’s electricity consumption. The facility wraps shipments in thermofoil, creates custom processes for personalized medicines, and gets airlines and forwarders working together under one temperature-controlled roof. Vienna knows it can’t match the mega-hubs for size, so it built exactly what pharmaceuticals need.

Steph Curry Shoots His Shot: AI That Makes Shrimp Orders Less Fishy

You know food supply chains are behind the times when some distributors still take orders via fax machine. Joseph Jacob saw it firsthand: his family has exported shrimp from India since the 1930s, giving him four generations of insight into exactly how antiquated the system remains. That legacy just helped him convince Steph Curry’s venture fund to bet $3.8 million that AI can finally modernize food distribution. 

From Factory Floors to Silicon Valley Floors

Jacob spent years buying hundreds of millions of pounds of seafood tracked on Excel sheets and a 20-year-old ERP system. He even witnessed two expensive software rollouts fail at his family’s business. Four generations of Jacobs have worked every angle of the seafood supply chain, from farming to importing, so when he saw distributors drowning in WhatsApp orders, voicemails, and even faxes that needed manual entry, he knew the exact pain points to target. His startup, Burnt, doesn’t force companies to trash their ancient systems; its AI agent, Ozai, sits on top and handles up to 80% of the mind-numbing data entry work. The company already processes over $10 million in monthly orders and pulls in six-figure revenue, including from one of the U.K.’s largest food conglomerates.

Why Curry’s Money Makes Sense Here

Penny Jar Capital, Curry’s VC firm, specifically hunts for founders tackling industries where tech adoption has failed repeatedly. Jacob pitched countless investors who couldn’t see past the unglamorous nature of food distribution, despite the trillion-dollar U.S. food market staring them straight in the face. Two decades of failed enterprise software rollouts have left distributors calling their ERPs “necessary evils,” creating precisely the kind of overlooked opportunity Penny Jar loves to tap into.

Big Mac Goes Green: McDonald’s $200M Bet on Burger Sustainability

McDonald’s just invested $200 million in what might be the world’s most expensive attempt to make cows climate friendly—and prove that quarter-pounders and planetary health can coexist. After 70 years of beef dominance, the fast food titan wants to transform 4 million acres of American ranchland, across 38 states, over the next seven years.  

When Corporate Giants Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is

McDonald’s isn’t playing small ball here. It’s backing ranchers with real resources, technical support, and the cash required to adopt regenerative grazing practices that boost soil health and wildlife habitats. Partners like Cargill, Coca-Cola, and Golden State Foods are throwing their weight behind the effort too, funding organizations that will teach ranchers how to make their land work harder while treating it better. Cesar Piña, McDonald’s supply chain chief, points out that it serves 90% of Americans annually—making its responsibility to protect food systems impossible to ignore.  

Ranchers Win, Wildlife Wins, Your Burger Wins

Jeff Trandahl from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation breaks down the beautiful simplicity: cattle managed properly means soil that holds more water, grows better grass, and supports more wildlife. Ranchers who jump on board get economic incentives that boost profitability while strengthening rural communities. The entire supply chain becomes more resilient and creates a foundation where agricultural sustainability doesn’t mean sacrificing productivity. 

The Truth About Supply Chains

Mexican truckers can’t trust checkpoints. Food distributors can’t trust fax machines. But Steph Curry trusts AI, Vienna trusts temperature sensors, and McDonald’s trusts regenerative ranching. The difference between chaos and control? Real-time shipment visibility. When cargo theft skyrockets and your competition races pharmaceuticals across oceans, real-time tracking stops being a luxury and starts being the whole game.

Arm yourself with innovation: let Tive lead the way in transforming your supply chain operations. Embrace the future of logistics—get started with Tive today.

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