News release from the City of Fort Wayne:
City announces expansion of Foreign Trade Zone #182
Mayor Tom Henry today joined with business leaders, economic development leaders, government officials from the eight-county region and airport officials at the Fort Wayne – Allen County International Airport to announce the expansion of the Foreign Trade Zone #182.
“The welcome mat is out for investment, business growth and job creation in Fort Wayne, Allen County and Northeast Indiana,” Mayor Henry said. “As we become more of a global society, local businesses are looking to expand their products and services beyond just our local markets. By working together with other counties, we are creating a foreign trade zone that is sure to attract new business to our region and inspire existing businesses to expand.”
The newly expanded Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ #182) will serve eight counties and will make it easier for local businesses to import and export products. The eight-county foreign trade zone area will include Adams, Allen DeKalb, Huntington, Noble, Wabash, Wells and Whitley Counties.
The City of Fort Wayne became a grantee of Foreign Trade Zone #182 in 1991. Last year, the city’s Office of International Trade took the lead on applying for expansion of the zone, under the federal Alternative Site Framework initiative. It was approved earlier this month.
The expansion of the FTZ # 182 is a result of partnership and cooperation between the City of Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne-Allen County International Airport, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office, economic development organizations and elected officials from all eight counties.
Applying for the expanded FTZ falls in line with Mayor Henry’s commitment to employ innovative methods, new technologies and process improvements to better serve the public and make Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana more attractive to new jobs and business investment.
The Alternative Site Framework will provide the City of Fort Wayne the flexibility to offer foreign-trade zone status to companies who need the status and have a plan to utilize it. The expanded zone will streamline the application process, shorten the activation time to as little as 45 days, eliminate the costs of general purpose zone activation and decrease the cost and waiting time of subzone or manufacturing applications.
Mayor Henry praised the trade zone program for achieving the area’s goals of economic diversification.
Flexible foreign-trade zone status will help to secure, retain and attract warehousing, logistics, and distribution operations in Northeast Indiana area.
“This will give local manufacturers incentives to expand their operations in Northeast Indiana and be more competitive in the global market,” Mayor Henry said. “It will result in new jobs; expanded tax base for local, state and federal governments and greater business activity in this region.”
The expansion initiative also includes the establishment of a website that will provide businesses with all necessary FTZ information, forms and government import/export regulations.
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