Southeast Tennessee foreign trade zone grows to 11 counties

photo Charles Wood

A new 11-county foreign trade zone in Southeast Tennessee should help spur job growth in the region, officials said Tuesday.

The Chattanooga Chamber Foundation has received the OK for the expansion and reorganization of Chattanooga's foreign-trade zone to include all of Hamilton, Marion, Grundy, Warren, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Rhea, Meigs, Bradley, Polk and McMinn counties.

"We want factories and companies saving money," said Steve Hiatt, the Chamber's director of existing business development.

Hiatt said that instead of just several spots in the region having FTZ designation, the new framework can help more companies defer, reduce or eliminate custom duties on products.

The move also is seen as another benefit of regional cooperation. The Chamber is overseeing Thrive 2055, a 16-county public-private effort to engage people from across the 16-county, tri-state Chattanooga region to make the most of economic development opportunities.

Charles Wood, the Chamber's vice president of economic development, said the reorganization addresses a need for zone status where large manufacturers and distributors already exist or have expressed interest in locating.

"This will also help attract foreign investment and encourage retention of trade-related activity in the U.S.," he said in a statement.

Within a foreign trade zone, imported parts or goods may be manufactured or reconfigured and then be re-exported without the intervention of import duties or customs authorities.

Hiatt said the new zone basically fits with the state Economic and Community Development Department's Southeast district. He said nearby Georgia counties are already covered in the Atlanta area's FTZ.

As an example of how the zone already works, Hiatt noted that Chattanooga's Volkswagen plant ships some of its cars to the Middle East. He said there's no custom duties on the parts imported for the assembly of those cars.

Craig Pool, president of FTZ Corp., which serves as the zone project administrator, said the new framework helps meet the shifting needs of current users.

"It also provides economic professionals within a wide radius with an additional benefit they can leverage to attract new businesses, both large and small, and support existing business," he said.

In a recent report to Congress, the U.S. Department of Commerce said there were 177 active foreign trade zones in the United States last year.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.

Upcoming Events