Introduction
With more than 12 years in business, Ubictum is committed to meet—and exceed—the logistics needs of their clients by providing reliable and comprehensive services that comply with regulations—while ensuring that shipments are delivered on time, and in full.
Ubictum and Nadro are part of the same organization: Nadro, the parent company, specializes in the supply of pharmaceutical, health, and personal care products.
Ubictum provides logistics, storage, and product distribution services for Nadro through its primary network distributor—moving goods from a central distribution center to regional distribution centers (RDCs). From these RDCs, Ubictum then distributes products directly to its clients.
Faced with increasing incidents of cargo theft in Mexico, Ubictum began using location and condition trackers on most of their shipments.
As Edgar Li Vazquez, Senior Security Manager at Ubictum, explained: “We now use Tive on shipments throughout Mexico. We have 14 distribution centers, and we place Tive devices on a wide variety of shipments. Our goal is to have a Tive device with every shipment originating from our primary network.”
Offering a Suite of Security Solutions
A majority of Ubictum’s primary network operates through third-party providers, with the remainder managed by third-party logistics companies. Ubictum requires each of these logistics partners to meet strict security criteria, which is becoming increasingly common in companies across Mexico.
Prior to implementing Tive, Ubictum already included a broad set of security-related tracking devices for their primary network shipments—including 2G, 3G, and 4G devices—but Vazquez wanted to expand this offering to include 5G trackers.
Vazquez learned about Tive from their device provider—and decided to give it a try. “One thing I immediately liked is the 5G connectivity—because even if a jammer is in use, it might not be able to block all signals, or its range may not cover the 5G frequency. That’s extremely important to us,” says Vazquez.
Tive trackers use a low-power protocol (LTE-M) compatible with 4G and 5G networks, and the devices support frequencies (also called bands) associated with LTE and GSM networks. Tive supports a wide range of frequencies, and the devices can switch to a different frequency band if one band is blocked by jammer equipment. This capability makes it much more difficult for sophisticated thieves to block all frequencies simultaneously.
Tracking Stolen Cargo
In Mexico, cargo thieves don’t mess around. They target all kinds of products, and they are stationed throughout the country—poised to pounce. Companies across Mexico are aware of the threats posed by these criminals, yet many remain powerless to prevent them.
But sometimes, shipment tracking solutions can help companies recover stolen merchandise. In 2024, Vazquez and his team were able to take back two stolen shipments with the help of Tive trackers—and the data captured in the cloud platform. In total, these two shipments were valued at $100,000.
The first theft occurred on a shipment headed to Puebla. Thieves stopped the truck and diverted it to a different location, unloaded the cargo, and the goods were placed in smaller vehicles and transported to nearby towns. “That’s how criminals operate nowadays—by dividing up the cargo, storing it on one or two properties, and letting it ‘cool down,’” said Vazquez. “Once they believe no one is searching for the goods, the thieves sell it off.”
As criminals move stolen goods to secure locations, they typically search for tracking devices, remove them, and dispose of them somewhere far from the stolen cargo. In this particular case, Ubictum had hidden a Tive tracker inside a box. The criminals found it, took it out, and threw it into a river.
But they didn’t dispose of it quickly enough. Before being discovered, the tracker had already sent several communication pings to the Tive platform. With this data, the Ubictum team was able to pinpoint the exact location of the stolen goods.
Retrieving Stolen Cargo
Ubictum confirmed the location of this “river theft” incident by sending their security chief down to the river—and he verified that the device was, indeed, underwater. Armed with the hyper-accurate location information provided by the Tive tracker, Ubictum involved national security forces and the ministerial police, who found the stolen goods at the exact location reported by the platform.
Ubictum recovered the stolen merchandise, but local residents became aggressive when they tried to retrieve the goods. “It was a complicated situation because the authorities in Mexico are often complicit, and it is hard to know who to trust. This is the level of uncertainty we face with law enforcement here,” said Vazquez.
The second theft occurred while a shipment worth $60K was heading from Puebla to Oaxaca. Because Ubictum shipments often include high-value products such as medications—which are a prime target for thieves and sell quickly—the company uses multiple security systems to protect their cargo. For example, on their primary network transports, Ubictum installs satellite security locks, magnetic trackers, and separate tracking devices inside the truck—including Tive.
Vazquez explains, “When you recover shipments like these, it makes it worth the cost and effort. Once stolen, the products we ship sell very quickly—practically like hotcakes. They vanish in ten minutes because the shipments include medication, as well as everything you’d find in a pharmacy—even toothbrushes.”
Tracker Durability Can’t Be Beat
Another feature of Tive that Vazquez values is the durability of the trackers. Over time, Ubictum noticed that when signals from their other devices were blocked, Tive trackers continued reporting. “This has proven its reliability to us,” said Vazquez. “These trackers are resistant to water and weather conditions, and even jammers. As hard as that is to believe, Tive is able to, at times, withstand the jammers, which is highly important to us.”
Vazquez continued, “Even after being discarded in the river during a theft event, the Tive tracker continued reporting intermittently for up to two months.”
“Tive is a highly-effective tool, and I appreciate the company’s commitment to continuously improve its technology. Anyone can tell you their product is the best, but the fact that we were able to recover two stolen shipments—thanks to Tive—makes all the difference. Of all the devices we use, Tive stands out as one of the best, and it even reports underwater.”
According to Vazquez, “The cost-benefit gained by using Tive is very good, and tracking high-value merchandise while receiving all these benefits is worthwhile.”
