The Times and Democrat - Inland port planner seeks FTZ status

Charleston-based Carolina Linkages officials have big plans for Orangeburg County’s future.

The company has touted the county’s access to Interstate 95 and Interstate 26 as well as its available land and infrastructure as an ideal locale for the development of a $10-15 million inland port at Santee.

On Monday, the company submitted its application to have the region designated as a Foreign Trade Zone.

FTZs are areas on U.S. soil where foreign and domestic merchandise is considered to be an international commerce, which means a possible reduction or elimination of customs duties and a deferral of duty payments until time of delivery.

CaroLinks President and CEO Lucy Duncan-Scheman said the FTZ designation, while not critical to the inland port, would enhance the region’s attractiveness.

“It would clear customs on the site,” she said. “It would be good to have to offer potential services.”

Suzan Carroll-Ramsey, manager of Foreign Trade Zones 21 & 38, said CaroLinks applied for the FTZ Monday afternoon. Carroll-Ramsey said the application can take 12 to 18 months for approval.

As part of the general process, CaroLinks working with the Ports Authority would:

n Submit an application to the SCSPA, which would submit the application to the federal FTZ board, an arm of the U.S. Commerce Department.

n Publish notice of the application in the Federal Register, opening a 60-day public comment period

n Send applications to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol headquarters and the Department of Treasury for review to begin the voting process.

n Await a vote by the FTZ Board to either approve or reject application

CaroLinks in a document titled “CaroLinks-Inland Port Business Overview,” distributed Sept. 19 in Orangeburg, inadvertently noted the property as already having the FTZ designation.

South Carolina State Ports Authority spokesman Byron Miller, seeing an article published by The Times and Democrat on Sept. 28, noted the agency, which serves as a FTZ grantee, had not received an application from CaroLinks at the time of the article.

Miller previously has gone on record questioning some of the claims by the company in relation to announced plans to purchase Shipyard Creek property in North Charleston. CaroLinks in September cited unresolved issues regarding the Port of Charleston’s expansion in announcing it would not be buying the site, which the company said initially would be used for cargo distribution.

Currently, the SCSPA is a grantee for two of the state’s three Foreign Trade Zone designations.

FTZs were established under the Foreign-Trade Zones act of 1934 to create and maintain employment and investment in the United States. In 1998, 350,000 people were employed in FTZs across the country. Sixty-seven percent of merchandise admitted to zones was of domestic origin, and $16.97 billion worth of merchandise was exported overseas from FTZs in 1998.

Currently, the state’s Coastal Region and Upstate are designated as Foreign Trade Zone 21 and 38, respectively.

As part of its project, CaroLinks plans to take containers from ships, haul them from the Wando Welch Terminal and transport them to sites in Orangeburg County and the Upstate for distribution.

The company would move barges from the Wando Welch Terminal via Lake Moultrie and the Cooper River.

In addition to the distribution complex, plans are to develop a 75-acre to 100-acre truck facility closer to the U.S. 301 and I-95 interchange and an emergency-preparedness site.

Duncan-Scheman said Monday the company is “moving toward a closing contract” on the 789 acres the company has optioned in Orangeburg County at U.S. 301 and Interstate 95. The company has cited the middle of October as a targeted deadline to purchase the land.

In the interim, Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson said the OCDC is applying for a general purpose FTZ designation of its own for strategic sites in the county, notably at its industrial parks.

Some of these sites include the Orangeburg County/City Industrial Park on U.S. 301 near Interstate 26, the John W. Matthews Industrial Park at U.S. Highways 301 and 176, and Southern Patio at the old Greenwood Mills Liner Plant off Rowesville Road.

General-purpose zones are usually an industrial park with facilities that may be available for use by the general public.

The OCDC has discussed the desire and possibility of making the sites a FTZ for the better part of three years.

Brad Snelgrove, OCDC research and grants administrator, said the commission has submitted its application for the FTZ and is awaiting word on the status of the application. Snelgrove said unofficial word is a decision could be forthcoming in about six months.

The application fee is based on the number of applicants statewide and monies are divided according to the number of applicants and according to the S.C. Ports Authority fee schedule in place at any given time.

The application fee is $773 for each site for a three-site total of $2,319. It is a one-time fee.

Companies in the FTZ would also have an annual fee as part of the designation.

But Robinson said in the scheme of things application costs are well worth the expense from the standpoint of what the designation will mean to companies and future success. He explained that when companies are looking to locate, the FTZ designation could turn a few heads.

Robinson said a Foreign Trade Zone designation serves as another benefit to industries looking to locate here.

“It is good thing because it reduces the overall cost of the product, cost of operations and hopefully they can pass that on to the customer and garner market share and make more of a profit,” Robinson said. “It brings an added feature to a business park.”

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories at TheTandD.com.

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Comments:

SKR wrote on October 08, 2006 7:51 AM:"It's too bad our politicians are SO eager to get this INLAND PORT established here.Maybe they need to think more about not only the monies but the DANGER (terrorists, chemicals, etc.) that are bound to happen with an inland port!!!......"

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