Business at Thrush Aircraft Inc. should be booming this time ofyear as the Georgia company ships its crop dusters to customers inBrazil preparing to fertilize crops.

A partial U.S. government shutdown, however, has brought about$13 million worth of orders to a halt because the shuttered U.S.Export-Import Bank isn't providing financing for the buyers inSouth America, where it's now spring.

“It's just brutal,” said Eric Rojek, the vice president forsales of the closely held company, based in Albany. “It's a verydifficult position that these guys have put us in,” he said,referring to U.S. lawmakers who couldn't agree on a plan to keepthe bank and other federal agencies open before the Oct. 1 start ofthe fiscal year.

American exporters and some companies trying to ship productsinto the U.S. say they are finding new roadblocks as the impact ofthe shutdown in Washington spreads overseas. In addition to delayedsales, the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers hasslowed the processing of some goods at U.S. ports.

“It's really been bogged down,” said Aaron Ellis, a spokesmanfor the American Association of Port Authorities. “Especially withgoods like frozen beef, it really costs a lot of money to maintainbecause they have to be plugged in to stay frozen on the dock,” hesaid in a phone interview.

The normal operation of the Export-Import Bank — whose existencewas the subject of a months-long battle last year between Tea PartyRepublicans and airlines on one side and the U.S. business lobby onthe other — has come to a halt.

“The fact is, we can't do new deals” or process those that havealready been submitted for approval, David Sena, the bank's chieffinancial officer, said by phone. The bank provides financing,including loan guarantees, to foreign buyers of U.S. goods. Thosedeals benefit companies including Boeing Co. of Chicago and GeneralElectric Co. of Fairfield, Connecticut.

“There are no immediate financing impacts to Boeing airplanedeliveries,” company spokesman Doug Alder said in an e-mail.“However, as the shutdown continues, there is the potential of somecustomer impacts to near-term deliveries where Ex-Im financing hasbeen planned.”

Supplier Disruptions

Export-Import Bank financing can act as an “export magnet”because sales of complex systems like aircraft or satellites alsobenefit suppliers, Remy Nathan, vice president for internationalaffairs at the Aerospace Industries Association, said in a phoneinterview. The Arlington, Virginia-based industry group's membersinclude Lockheed Martin Corp. and United Technologies Corp.

“Anything that interferes with the bank's operations hasimplications for the suppliers,” Nathan said.

While inspections by U.S. Customs and Border Protection continueat normal levels, because its employees were not furloughed, otheragencies involved in trade have pared their staffs. The U.S. Foodand Drug Administration has furloughed 18 percent of its 420investigators who work on imports, agency spokesman Steven Immergutsaid in an e-mail.

The U.S. International Trade Commission, which investigatestrade disputes to determine whether imports have unfairly harmedU.S. businesses, has stopped that work. The Commerce Departmentdivision that promotes exports is virtually shuttered. The U.S.Trade Representative's office, in the process of negotiating majoragreements with the 28-nation European Union and 11 Pacific-regionnations, is operating with 26 percent of its 232 person staff.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security hasfurloughed about 60 percent of its workers. The bureau reviews theexport of goods that are restricted because they contain advancedtechnology.

The lapse in the bureau's routine functions “could affect ourability to ship products to certain markets,” said Kevin Winston,managing director of corporate communications at Applied MaterialsInc., a Santa Clara, California-based computer chipmaker. “Pendingapplications and future submissions are on hold,” he said in astatement.

Shipments of millions of dollars worth of pesticides are alreadybeing affected by the shutdown, Ray McAllister, the senior directorof regulatory policy for CropLife America, a trade grouprepresenting agricultural chemical manufacturers, said in ane-mailed statement. The Environmental Protection Agency, whichreviews pesticide imports, has furloughed more than 90 percent ofits workers.

Chemical Pesticides

With inventories of chemical ingredients running low forproducts in production, “it may not take long for the bottlenecksto have an effect on supplies of crop protection products foragriculture,” which would disrupt planting seasons, McAllistersaid.

There could be delays in document reviews and exams for someimports due to reduced staffing at the FDA, which inspects drug andsome food imports, according to Samuel Shapiro & Co., aBaltimore-based customs broker and freight forwarder. U.S. Fish& Wildlife Service declarations now need to be filled outmanually, and the licensing system for steel has stopped, thecompany said in a posting about the shutdown on its website.

“It's mass confusion,” at U.S. ports, said Lisa Goldenberg,president of Delaware Steel Company of Pennsylvania, a wholesaledistributor based in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Steel is beingheld up at ports in some places and at warehouses in others, shesaid in a phone interview.

“What I'm hearing is that they're running, but light,”Goldenberg, who is also president of the Association of SteelDistributors, said of the nation's ports. “They're open forbusiness, but sort-of not really.”

Spokesmen for ports in California, Louisiana, Houston andGeorgia said their facilities haven't seen a significantimpact.

“It's been pretty quiet,” Art Wong, a spokesman for the Port ofLong Beach, said in an interview. While there hasn't been a backupof cargo, “in some cases they don't get to open the containersuntil they get inspections. They could be sitting in warehouseswaiting for paperwork to clear.”

If the shutdown persists, ports will increasingly see theiroperations affected, said Page Siplon, executive director at theGeorgia Center of Innovation for Logistics.

“The backlog will build up to the point where it could reallyimpact the flow of ports more generally,” Siplon said in a phoneinterview.

Fortunately, most merchandise needed for holiday season salesentered the U.S. in August and September, according to JonathanGold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at theNational Retail Federation.

“Our bigger concern with holiday sales is the impact of theshutdown on consumer confidence,” he said in an interview.

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