DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 3-88]
53 FR 2261
January 27, 1988
Foreign-Trade Zone 134 -- Chattanooga, TN; Application for Subzone Komatsu
Construction/Industrial Equipment Plant
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Partners for Economic Progress, Inc., grantee of FTZ 134,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the construction equipment
and industrial machinery manufacturing plant of Komatsu America
Manufacturing Corporation (a subsidiary of Komatsu, Ltd., Japan), located
in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 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 foremally filed
on Jaunary 18, 1988.
The Komatsu plant (47 acres) is located at Signal Mountain Road and Runyon
Drive in Chattanooga. The facility employs 125 persons and is used to produce
heavy duty construction equipment and industrial machinery such as exavators,
motror graders, motor scrapers, crawler tractors, off-road dump trucks, wheel
loaders, industrial robots, presses, and laser machining devices. At the
outset, about half of the value of components will be sourced abroad, such
as engines, transmissions, axles, hydraulic components, brakes, steering
cases, torque connectors, valves, tanks, and track and revalve frames.
Zone procedures would exempt Komatsu from duty payments on the foreign
components used in its exports. On its domestic sales, the company will be
able to elect the duty rate that applies to finished equipment. The duty rate
on the major components averages 4.2 percent, whereas the rates for the
finished equipment range from 2.0 to 4.0 percent. The application indicates
that zone procedures will help improve the Chattanooga plant's international
competitiveness.
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: Dennis Puccinelli (Chairman), Foreign-Trade Zones
Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; Joel Mish,
District Engineer, U.S. Customs Service, South Central Region, 423 Canal
Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130; and Colonel Edward A. Starbird,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Nashivile, P.O. Box 1070,
Nashville, Tennessee 37202.
Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested parties. They should be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before March 11, 1988.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
Port Director's Office,
U.S. Customs Service,
900 Georgia Avenue, Room 209,
Chattanooga, Tennessee 37401
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th and Pennsylvaina Avenue, NW.,
Washington DC 20230.
Dated: January 21, 1988.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 88-1647 Filed 1-26-88; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M