DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 5-81]
46 FR 27364
May 19, 1981
Foreign-Trade Zone No. 22, Chicago; Application for Special-Purpose Subzone
Dated: May 11, 1981.
TEXT: Notice is hereby given that an application has been submitted to
the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the Chicago Regional Port
District (Port District), grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone No. 22,
requesting authority to establish a special-purpose subzone at a steel
plant in Chicago, Illinois, within the Chicago Customs port of entry. The
application was submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Foreign-Trade
Zones Act of 1934, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u), and the regulations of
the Board (15 CFR Part 400). It was formally filed on May 11, 1981.
The Chicago zone was authorized by the Board on October 29, 1975 (Board
Order 108). The Port District, created as a municipal corporation to
promote commerce through Chicago's ports, has authority to make zone and
subzone proposals under Illinois Law (Act of June 6, 1951, Sec. 8.01).
The application calls for the establishment of a 46-acre subzone at the
steel tube manufacturing facility of the Unarco-Leavitt Division, Unarco
Industries, Inc. The facility, located at 1717 West 115th Street, Chicago,
currently consists of a 500,000 square foot manufacturing plant on a
19.1-acre parcel owned by Unarco. The company has leased an adjacent
26.5-acre parcel from Holco Corporation, a subsidiary of Estel, N.V., a
Dutch Steel Company, which is constructing a 240,000 square foot building
on the site for Unarco-Leavitt operations. A Dutch subsidiary of Estel
will supply at least 60 percent of the new facility's steel sheet
requirements. Both parcels will be included in the proposed subzone.
The facility currently produces electric-welded steel tubing from
carbon steel sheet and plate. The tubing consists of both mechanical and
structural shapes and sizes up to 5 inches in width, or outer diameter,
and up to .25 inches in the thickness. It is used in the manufacture of
scaffolding, railings, agricultural machinery, automobiles, industrial
boilers and condensers. The new 26.5-acre section of the plant will
produce large, electric-welded structural steel tubing with diameters or
widths ranging from 5 to 10 inches and thicknesses from .188 to .5
inches. The larger shapes are used in the production of farm and off-
the-road equipment and in the construction of low and medium rise
buildings. Plant capacity will be increased from the current 300,000 tons
to 500,000 tons per year, and employment from 500 to 700 workers.
The applicant indicates that U.S. import duties are about $22 a ton
less for steel tubing than for steel sheet and plate, based on an average
sheet and plate price of $320 a ton. Subzone status would remove the cost
disadvantage resulting from the inverted tariff and help Unarco-Leavitt
compete in the domestic market with tubing imported directly from abroad
at the lower rate, which in 1979 accounted for about one-third of U.S.
consumption. In addition, the application indicates that there will be
public economic benefits ranging from increased investment, business
activity and employment in Chicago's depressed South-side area to
positive effects on the U.S. balance of trade.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigate the application and report to the Board.
The committee consists of: Ben L. Irvin, Deputy Director, Office of
Compliance, Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington,
D.C. 20230; Peter F. Gonzalez, Chicago District Director, U.S. Customs
Service, Region IX, 610 South Canal Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607; and
Lt. Colonel Christas A. Dovas, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer
District Chicago, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60604.
As part of its investigation, the Examiners Committee will hold a
public hearing on June 18, 1981, beginning at 9:00 a.m., in the Board
Room of the Chicago Regional Port District Offices, 12800 Butler Drive,
Chicago. The purpose of the hearing is to help inform interested persons
about the proposal, to provide an opportunity for their expression of
views, and to obtain information useful to the examiners.
Interested parties are invited to present their views at the hearing.
They should notify the Board's Executive Secretary of their desire to be
heard in writing at the address below or by phone (202/377-2862) by June
10, 1981. Instead of an oral presentation, written statements may be
submitted in accordance with the Board's regulations to the examiners
committee, care of the Executive Secretary, at any time from the date of
this notice through July 18, 1981. Evidence submitted during the
post-hearing period is not desired unless it is clearly shown that the
matter is new and material and that there are good reasons why it could
not be presented at the hearing. A copy of the application and
accompanying exhibits will be available during this time for public
inspection at each of the following locations:
International Trade Administration District Office,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
1406 Mid Continental Plaza Building,
55 East Monroe Street,
Chicago, Illinois 60603;
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2006,
14th and E Street NW.,
Washington, D.C. 20230.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 81-14874 Filed 5-18-81; 8:45 am]