November 6, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW BELLINGHAM Foreign-Trade ZONE
AVAILABLE FOR CANADIAN ENTREPRENEURS

(Also Visit www.ftzservices.com)

Bellingham, Wa and Richmond, BC -  Does your business import components into North America for assembly, storage or distribution? If so, a new Foreign-Trade Zone located right across the Canada/USA border, in Bellingham, Wash., may help you reduce or eliminate US and Canadian customs duties or qualify for NAFTA.

Or perhaps you’ve got a line on a great price for goods that you’ll want to inspect, control, warehouse and, possibly, re-label or repackage for future shipping. The Foreign-Trade Zone can help defer or eliminate your US duty costs until you’re ready to move your product. And if you’re looking to re-export merchandise, a Foreign-Trade Zone can provide secure, duty-free storage and workspace until your goods are ready to be shipped. These advantages and more are now available to BC businesses. This recently appointed Foreign-Trade Zone has just made it even easier to market to the USA and elsewhere.

International Market Access, Inc. (IMA), a private firm with offices in Bellingham and in Richmond, BC, has entered into a Foreign-Trade Zone Site Operations Agreement with the Port of Bellingham (“Grantee” for the US government). A Foreign-Trade Zone is a federally designated area exempt from import duties and certain other federal or state regulations

This agreement is the latest addition to IMA’s extensive package of services designed to assist BC businesses in overcoming the “border barrier” when doing business in the USA.

Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ), also known as “free trade zones”, assist exporters and importers when goods or components arrive from outside the country for sale or further processing in the USA. Designed to create and maintain jobs for Americans, these zones also offer great business advantages to foreign companies. Since the zones are not considered to be in US Customs territory, they provide cash flow savings through opportunities to eliminate, reduce or defer payment of US or other NAFTA duties.  “Businesses operating within FTZs do so with maximum flexibility, often reducing, eliminating and/or deferring payments of US duties,” said Jim Pettinger, president of IMA. The FTZ agreement is just one more step in IMA’s expanding role as a catalyst for Canadian business expansion into the USA The Foreign-Trade Zone can be a tool for a segment of Canadian entrepreneurs who earn money from international trade by helping them access the global marketplace while keeping their business base at home.

“We hope to play an even larger role as a business incubator in Whatcom County,” said Pettinger. “The FTZ program allows us to become a full-service warehouse and distribution operation for foreign-based companies seeking to establish US facilities.”

IMA is no stranger to helping BC businesses gain a foothold in the USA. IMA provides Canadian companies with a low-cost, fully equipped and fully staffed USA extension of their Canadian office. Established by Pettinger in 1984, IMA currently provides USA branch office and distribution services for more than 80 Canadian companies from its 20,000-sq. ft. facility within the International Trade Building at the Port’s 60-acre business park near the Bellingham International Airport. About two-thirds of those firms using IMA’s marketing and logistic support services seek primarily a USA business identity to enhance their marketing and communication. The other third also uses warehousing, fulfillment, assembling and shipping services.

IMA’s success did not go unnoticed when the Port of Bellingham went looking for an FTZ operator. “We are very pleased that IMA will be an FTZ operator in Bellingham,” said Jim Darling, Executive Director of the Port. “They have been successful in growing their business and we look forward to their future success. We expect our FTZ program to be an effective catalyst for further economic development in Whatcom County, which is an important part of the Port’s mission.”

We believe that due to the proximity to the Canadian border, Whatcom County naturally offers a gateway to the US market for Canadian companies wanting to market their products and services to the US As a “next door” neighbour, the Port of Bellingham helps give companies the resources of Seattle, Portland or L.A. without the congestion, cost and distance,” added Darling.

BC businesses can cash in on that success by taking advantage of the FTZ and the cash flow savings it offers. Some of these savings can include reducing or eliminating duty on exports of imported merchandise, inverted tariff opportunities, reducing or eliminating duty on accountable losses, expediting shipments, possible transportation cost reductions and insurance savings.

Merchandise brought into an FTZ can be stored, tested, cleaned, sampled, relabeled, repackaged, displayed, repaired, manipulated, mixed, processed, assembled, manufactured, salvaged, destroyed or re-exported. All without having to be “imported” into US Customs territory.

For more information, visit www.ftzservices.com.