Big states for farming and construction activity saw the highest concentration of heavy equipment theft.

"The importance of the report is to allow insurance companies [and risk managers] to focus on the right risks," said David Shillingford, president of NER in New York.

He said the report found, in assessing the most targeted equipment, "you're looking at tractors, backhoes?anything that can go on a single-axle trailer and can be moved without police escort."

The top five states for theft--Texas, North Carolina, Florida, California and Georgia--also account for a third of the theft in the U.S., according to the study.

"The equipment that is being stolen is worth $10,000-$60,000 per piece, he noted. "When you look at the frequency, it really starts adding up?and very little of this is being recovered."

He added that though more cars are stolen, when dollar figures of heavy equipment stolen and not recovered are added up, "it's a huge financial problem for the insurance industry."

Relatively few insurers, he said, are involved in heavy equipment, "and most of those belong to NER." Twenty insurance groups?300 insurance companies?are members, he said.

Inland marine figures for overall premium volume show that these companies account for 30 percent of the heavy equipment market, he said.

This is important because this is "a collective effort. The only way this can work is when the bulk of the industry gets behind it, because it's all about having the information," he explained. "Law enforcement is more likely to call us if they know that we have the bulk of the losses from the insurance industry in our databases."

Last year was the first full year of operation, he said. NER's database includes more than 30,000 theft reports and statistics from the Insurance Services Office, he said. The report is a detailed study and analysis of construction and farm equipment losses and recoveries.

The aim of the study is to provide equipment owners, insurance companies and law enforcement with information to more effectively focus risk management and investigation resources, according to NER.

The report provides statistics on theft in 2003 by state, type of theft, location and type of equipment. It examines trends since 1995, comparing equipment theft against other types of loss, such as damage. The report also looks at what type of equipment is being recovered and where.

Mr. Shillingford noted that there are "no real surprises there, other than we have theft reports from every state in 2003. So it's not a problem that happens in one particular state."

He said higher theft follows concentrations of equipment. "Most equipment is in Texas and California and Florida. They're big states, and they have a lot of building and a lot of agriculture," he said.

The full report is available on the NER Web site, http://www.nerusa.com/stats.asp. NER member companies may request a more detailed breakdown of data, NER said.