U.S. Ports Don't Expect Disruptions During Government Shutdown

Although 750,000 federal employees are expected to be furloughed now that a government shutdown has taken effect, major U.S. ports say that they don't expect major disruptions to take hold as the shutdown drags on. Without approval from Congress on a new spending plan for the fiscal year that began on October 1, this marks the first government shutdown in the U.S. since President Trump's first term in 2018-2019. Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero similarly told SupplyChainBrain that cargo will continue to move through the supply chain at the Southern California shipping hub. The Port of Los Angeles, Port of Houston and Port of Tacoma all echoed those sentiments, telling SupplyChainBrain that they are expecting normal operations moving forward. Several ports also indicated that their federal employees qualify as essential workers, and have historically not been affected by government shutdowns.