DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 33-84]
49 FR 26770
June 29, 1984
Foreign-Trade Zone 74, Baltimore, Maryland; Application for a Subzone at
Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point Shipyard
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the City of Baltimore, Maryland, grantee of Foreign-Trade
Zone 74, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the shipyard of
Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Sparrows Point, Maryland, within the
Baltimore Customs port of entry. The application was submitted pursuant to
the provisions of the Foreign-Trade Zones Act, as amended (19 U.S.C.
81a-81u), and the regulations of the Board (15 CFR Part 400). It was
formally filed on June 18, 1984. The applicant is authorized to make this
proposal under Article 23, Section 466-469 of the Annotated Code of
Maryland.
The proposed subzone is on a 215-acre facility located on the lower east
bank of the Patapsco River, on the west side of the Sparrows Point
Peninsula, some 6 miles southeast of Baltimore. It is a major U.S. shipyard
used for the construction, conversion, and repair of oceangoing vessels
such as oil tankers, bulk cargo carriers, container ships, and roll on/roll
off cargo ships, as well as offshore oil drilling platforms. The facility
currently has orders for the conversion of 3 container ships into 3
Maritime Prepositioning (TAKX) vessels to be leased to the Navy. It is also
bidding for construction of six container ships. Some 21 percent of the
finished product material value (exclusive of steel) on the TAKX vessel
involves foreign sourced components such as diesel generators, boilers,
pumps, air conditioning equipment, anchors, chain, cranes, deck machinery,
hatches, electrical gear and control consoles. About 27 percent of the
material value (exclusive of steel) of the container ships is expected to
be sourced abroad and will include components similar to those of the
TAKX vessel.
Zone procedures will help Bethlehem to reduce costs on its current
orders and to compete internationally on bids for new projects. The
benefits are related to the fact that most of the components are subject
to significant duties, and that the finished products, as oceangoing
vessels' are duty free.
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: John J. Da Ponte, Jr. (Chairman), Director, Foreign-
Trade Zones Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230;
Edward A. Goggin, Assistant Regional Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service,
Northeast Region, 100 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110; and Colonel Gerald
C. Brown, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Baltimore, P.O.
Box 1715, Baltimore, MD 21203.
Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested persons and organizations. They should be addressed to the
Board's Executive Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or
before July 31, 1984.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
U.S. Dept. of Commerce District Office,
415 U.S. Customhouse,
Gay and Lombard Streets,
Baltimore, MD 21202
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Rm. 1872,
14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dated: June 26, 1984.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 84-17434 Filed 6-28-84; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-25-M