Strategic Plan and Location for Famous Footwear Provider

Brown Shoe Company, Inc. recently marked the completion of its 350,000-square foot Famous Footwear Distribution Center, adding time savings and cost efficiencies to the process of shipping footwear to the chain's stores and consumers on the West Coast.

The Famous Footwear DC is located within Tejon Industrial Complex (TIC), a 1,450-acre master-planned business park anchoring California's central trade corridor at the junction of Interstate 5 and Highway 99 in Central California. TIC is part of the 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch, the largest contiguous expanse of private land in California. This strategic location, approximately 90 minutes north of the Los Angeles ports and four hours south of Oakland, gives warehouse operators efficient access to the state's two major port complexes and the ability to serve consumers from San Francisco to San Diego and east to Las Vegas in a one-day truck turn.

The Famous Footwear DC currently employs about 75 people, and is expected to create approximately 40 additional jobs in upcoming months. TIC provides access to the qualified workforce of the Bakersfield area, a 24-hour operating environment critical to warehouse operators, Foreign Trade Zone designation, efficient access to all the transit corridors of the 11 Western States, and has ample room for future expansion and customization.

To read the full article, visit Business Facilities.

FTZ Board Grants Michelin North American Authority for FTZ #50 Subzone Status

In a notice published in the Federal Register on May 20, the Foreign-Trade Zones Board granted authority for subzone status for activity related to tire warehousing and distribution at the Michelin North America, Inc. facility located in San Bernardino, California, as requested by the Board of Harbor Commissioners of the Port of Long Beach, grantee of FTZ #50. The application was formally filed on May 28, 2008.

The FTZ Board adopted the findings and recommendations of the examiner's report and found that the requirements of the FTZ Act and the board's regulations were satisfied and that approval of the application was in the public interest. The subzone status is subject to the FTZ Act and the board's regulations.

To view this article, please visit Export Industry News.

FTZs Help Companies Save Millions During Touch Economic Times

While no one likes difficult and tough economic down cycles, periods like the one we're in now serve the useful purpose of helping companies increase their focus on business process improvement--for example, by exposing inadequate global trade processes in order to improve them. Global trade, despite the current downturn, is in a long-term growth cycle. Combined U.S. imports and exports increased from under $100 billion in 1968 to nearly $3.5 trillion dollars in 2008--with almost half that total growth occurring in the last decade.

Given this reality, it's critical that business executives and global trade directors leverage current economic challenges to create fast and significant international trade process improvements, carefully investing limited capital in those areas where it can get the biggest bang for the buck. One excellent way to do this is by taking advantage of the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) program. “Foreign-Trade Zones can save U.S. importers millions of dollars and will often improve the speed of the supply chain,” explains Tommy Berry, President and CEO of PointTrade Services.

To read the full article, visit the Utah Pulse.

Salt Lake City Foreign Trade Zone Launch Event and Educational Seminar

Plan now to attend the Salt Lake Foreign Trade Zone Launch Event, May 14 from 12 to 1:30 p.m. at the Grand America Hotel, Imperial Ballroom B, where you will learn how you can use this important asset to defer, reduce or eliminate customs duties, improve cash flow, lower inventory costs and streamline customs procedures.

Cost is $20 and includes lunch. RSVP by May 8, 2009 to Amber Deibert at adeibert@edcutah.org with your credit card information and the number attending.

For more information on the Salt Lake City FTZ Seminar, please visit the Utah Pulse.

One Local Company Operates One of the Busiest FTZs in the US

World Warehouse and Distribution Executive Vice President Bill Glaude said the company has been told by local Customs and Border Protection officials that U.S. Foreign Trade Zone #54, which takes up 111,000 square feet of its Champlain facilities, is the most active Foreign Trade Zone in the United States.

The largest part of that activity involves a distribution project for Modelo Molson Imports L.P. Modelo Molson Imports was formed in 2008 to import, distribute and market the Modelo portfolio of beers throughout Canada.

World Warehouse has handled Modelo Molson's shipments to Canada's Maritime provinces and Ontario since late April 2008. The brands include Corona, Corona Light and Negra Modelo.

"We average 2,000 ocean containers a year in-bound," Glaude said. "That equates to about 3.5 million cases of beer."

That means approximately 2,000 container loads of Corona, Corona Light and Negra Modelo beer, about 3.5 million cases, passed through the Clinton County Foreign Trade Zone last year.

To read the full article, please visit Press Republican.

Lenoir County Leaders Work to Better Economic Partnership with South Korea

As the global recession continues to plague economies at home and abroad, local and state officials are working to establish better working relationships with internationanl markets.

The partnership between North Carolina and South Korean markets has improved in recent years. The state exports tobacco, cotton and corn to South Korea, which has enabled NC to become South Korea's 11th largest exporter of goods and services this year. The state exported nearly $575 million worth of goods to South Korea last year.

Eastern North Carolina's Global TransPark is encouraged to be evaluated as a place to ship pork products from North Carolina to South Korea. The Global TransPark is one of seven approved general purpose Foreign-Trade Zones in the state and Lenoir County is one of only six locations in the state that has been designated an "Export Ready" site by the NC Department of Commerce. International markets are using the trade zones to ship their goods without charge to other ports nationwide.

To view the full article, please visit ENC Today.

Expansion Sought for Another Kansas City Foreign-Trade Zone

An application has been submitted requesting the authority to expand Kansas City's Foreign-Trade Zone #17. It was formally filed to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board only 5 days after the submitted request for changes to FTZ #15.

The applicant is requesting authority to expand the general-purpose zone to include the Midwest Commerce Center, located at 17159 Mercury Street in Gardner, Kansas. The proposed new site would be designated Site 8 and will be used for warehousing, storage, and distribution activities. No specific manufacturing requests are being made at this time.

The FTZ Board is inviting public comment on the application. Submissions shall be addressed to the Board's Executive Secretary. The closing period for their receipt is June 19, 2009.

For more details on the request for expansion of FTZ #17 in Kansas City, please visit Import Industry News.

Foreign-Trade Zone Bill Passed Both Houses in Baltimore City's Annapolis

This year the City Administration did pretty well in Annapolis - of the 11 cross-filed bills introduced at the administration's request, only one was withdrawn. Seven passed through both the House and Senate, one of which being the Foreign-Trade Zone bill.

This emergency bill brings Baltimore into compliance with the definition of Foreign Trade Zone of the US Department of Commerce. Foreign Trade Zones are like the duty-free shop at the airport, except for companies!

The Baltimore City Paper provides a full list of the eleven bills discussed at this year's session.