Does budget sequestration in the US impact shipping?

The budget sequestration decision by the Government of Unites States will impact many federal agencies, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) being one of those.

CBP is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing US regulations, including trade, customs, and immigration. CBP is the largest law enforcement agency in the United States.

While it is too early to tell if and what the potential impact could be on shipping operations in North America, early evaluations suggest that potential delays in operations at ports due to the restrictions to staffing hours is a possibility. This may lead to delays in the clearance of vessels and in the processing of cargo.

Maersk Line is closely monitoring the situation within the ports that the company operates. It is difficult to determine what the full impact could be, however, at this time there has not been any impact since the sequester, went into effect 1 March 2013.

Maersk Line is in direct discussions with the various Agencies and Departments concerned, and customers affected will be updated immediately about the impact, if any.

‘Sequester’ or ‘Sequestration’ is automatic Governmental spending cuts. These become effective because the joint Congress committee has not been able to come to an agreement on cutting the debt deficit.

Budget sequestration, in accordance with United States law, limits the size of the federal budget and involves setting a hard cap on the amount of Government spending within broadly-defined categories.