Port of Houston

While the federal government has shut down , many essential federal workers remain on the job unpaid.

That includes roughly 63,000 of the 68,000 people employed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency that inspects cargo going through the Port of Houston and Texas' 31 other official ports of entry . Any hold-ups bringing imported goods through customs should remain relatively brief, at least for now.

"I think the risk you have is just a little bit of slowdown in processing," said Margaret Kidd, president of the Houston Maritime Center and Museum, and a lecturer in supply chain management at the University of Houston.

But that could change if the shutdown lasts more than a few weeks, said Former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, who is now a fellow in en

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