The devastation at the Port of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina isnt expected to have a major impact on the maritime shipment of retail goods, but the natural disaster could cause slowdowns in railroad operations that will cause longer shipping times for retail goods out of other ports, according to the monthly Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Global Insight.
According to the report, New Orleans is a major port for bulk commodities but retail container shipments are not common. This should minimize the direct effect on the retail industry. While there is speculation that diversion of New Orleans-bound ships to other ports could cause a delay, the NRF stated that it isnt expected to be a problem for retailers because those ships will be sent to other bulk commodity terminals with the proper equipment to unload them, not the container terminals commonly used by retailers.
The main problem for these retail-bound shipments is the increase in rail congestion. This stress on the railroad network has caused September Port Tracker congestion ratings for the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach and Oakland to increase to “medium” from the August rating of “low.” The poorer rating is based on availability of rail transportation rather than congestion within the two ports themselves.
The other six ports covered by Port Tracker Tacoma, Seattle, New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah have yet to see the effects of the Hurricane, and were ranked “low” for congestion and none were at high. The next six months should see continued increases in inbound container volume at Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma and slow, flat growth at LA/Long Beach. Overall, mid-year container volume growth has moderated from earlier in the year, running at less than 10 percent compared with double-digit growth in 2004.
