When the monthly report on durable goods orders came out on Tuesday, virtually everyone was surprised at the 22.6% improvement. However, when transportation is backed out of the equation, orders actually fell 0.8%. Transportation equipment like planes and locomotives totaled nearly $133 billion of the total $300 billion in new orders for July.
A significant portion of those transportation goods are being sent to foreign customers and the largest seller of transportation goods abroad is Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA). That partially explains the company’s aggressive campaign to reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Boeing accounted for more than a third of the bank’s loan commitments for the period between 2007 and 2013, according to a report from S&P Ratings Services.
Opposition to extending the bank’s life is being led by congressional conservatives, who derisively call the institution the Bank of Boeing. Domestic carriers are also lining up against reauthorization of the bank because they claim that it benefits their international competitors. A spokesman for Delta Air Lines Co. (NYSE: DAL) told The Hill:
Any reauthorization of the Bank must, at a minimum, contain reforms to address this issue, as well as provide complete transparency on any financing in which the bank participates and require it to analyze the benefits and harms of its widebody financings on U.S. airlines and our employees.
If the Export-Import Bank is not reauthorized, Boeing Capital Corp, the aircraft maker’s financing arm, could see demand for new financing rise from about $3.5 billion to as much as $9 billion, according to S&P. That is capital that Boeing would not have available to develop new planes. Airbus, Boeing’s chief competitor, gets financing support from export credit agencies in Europe.
One group of winners among the combatants are the lobbyists. Boeing has reportedly spent $4.18 million in recent months and has 18 lobbyists working the financial issues alone, and it has hired two other firms to press for renewing the bank’s charter, according to The Hill. Delta also has a stable of lobbyists working on the issues.
The Export-Import Bank’s charter expires at the end of September.
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