Retailers may face a last-minute rush to restock their shelves if household spending improves as it did in the 2009 holiday season, Bloomberg reported.

Declines in imported-container volumes and in shipments by trucking companies show that “cautious retailers are tightly controlling inventories right now,” said Benjamin Hartford, transportation analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co., a Milwaukee-based investment bank. Shippers will keep supplies low until “there is a clearer picture of consumer demand.”

A similar situation played out in 2009, when companies underestimated sales, then had to expedite the delivery of merchandise to stores before Christmas amid improving demand.

If history repeats, ground- and air-transport firms may benefit from a surge in shipments, experts say.

U.S. consumers, though, have shown few signs so far of wanting to hit the malls. Retail sales unexpectedly stagnated last month, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, following a 0.3 percent gain in July that was smaller than estimated.

Consumer confidence has fallen to its second-lowest level this year, with the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index dropping to minus 49.3 in the week ending Sept. 11. A reading of 100 indicates that consumers are fully confident.

The number of households saying it was a bad time to spend was the highest in three years.

Shipping data currently shows retailers preparing for a “muted” holiday season, Hartford said. The combined inbound-container volume at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports fell 9.4 percent in August from a year earlier. These ports, the two largest in the country, account for about 40 percent of total imports, Hartford said.