California Apparel News

Despite a federal budget cut to ports and other transportation entities, retail cargo volumes imported into the United States are expected to inch up gradually.

Earlier in the year, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned that federal spending cuts under the March 1 “sequestration” rule would result in staffing cutbacks that could delay customs inspections by five days.

The government is expected to make cutbacks in overtime pay for federal employees at the ports and start furloughs in mid-April.

“Retailers are aware of the impact of the cuts on customs operations at the ports and are working to plan accordingly so the impact on merchandise headed for the store shelves is minimized,” said Jonathan Gold, the National Retail Federation’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy. “This is a situation the industry is monitoring very closely.”

The National Retail Federation, through its monthly Global Tracker Report, looks at projected cargo volumes at all the major U.S. seaports. In January, the last month for which concrete numbers are available, cargo volumes were up 3.7 percent over the previous year. The nation’s port handled 1.33 million 20-foot cargo containers during that month.

In February, historically the slowest month for cargo-container traffic and when Chinese New Year normally takes place, volumes were up 6.8 percent to 1.16 million containers.

March is forecast to rise by 2.3 percent, April should see a 3.5 percent increase, and May should jump 5.5 percent.

The first six months of 2013 are expected to see a 4.3 percent rise with 8 million cargo containers passing through U.S. ports.

“At the port level, there may well be a slowdown in customs clearance, but trade will continue to flow,” said Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates, which does the research for the NRF-funded Global Tracker Report.—Deborah Belgum