DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 20-89]
54 FR 42317
October 16, 1989
Foreign-Trade Zone 92 -- Gulfport, MS; Application for Subzone -- Ingalls
Shipyard, Pascagoula
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Greater Gulfport/Biloxi Foreign-Trade Zone, Inc., grantee
of FTZ 92, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the shipyard of
Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc. (subsidiary of Litton Industries, Inc.), in
Pascagoula, Mississippi, within the Pascagoula Customs port of entry. The
application was submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Foreign-Trade
Zones Act, as amended (19 USC 81a-81u), and the regulations of the Board
(15 CFR part 400). It was formally filed on September 27, 1989.
The shipyard complex covers 794 acres on the east and west banks of the
East Pascagoula River in the City of Pascagoula, some 3 miles south of the
U.S. Highway 90 bridge and 12 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The facility
(10,000 employees) is used to produce oceangoing vessels, offshore
drilling rigs and hopper-type rail cars. Zone procedures would be used
only for the shipbuilding and rig construction activity. One of the yard's
major activities is the construction of military vessels, some of which are
built for foreign countries. Foreign-sourced components account for some
10 percent of the value of the vessels built at the facility, including
doors, hatches, valves, pumps, diesel engines and cranes.
Zone procedures will help Ingalls reduce costs on its current orders and
compete internationally for new contracts. Most of the imported components
are subject to significant Customs duties (average duty 5%) while the
finished products, as oceangoing vessels, are duty-free. The applicant is
aware that the Board FTZ has required the full payment of Customs duties
on foreign steel in its past decisions on shipyards.
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, DC
20230; Joel R. Mish, District Director, U.S. Customs Service, South Central
Region, 423 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130; and, Colonel Larry
S. Bonine, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Mobile, P.O.
Box 2288, Mobile, Alabama 36128.
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 November 21,
1989.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
Port of Gulfport Administration Building,
U.S. Highway 90,
Gulfport, MS 39502;
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 2835,
14th & Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: October 6, 1989.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 89-24270 Filed 10-13-89; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M