NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 33-91]
Foreign-Trade Zone 125--South
Bend, Indiana; Application for Subzone;
Coachmen Compact Recreational Vehicle Plant, Middlebury, IN
Thursday, June 20, 1991
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the St. Joseph County Airport Authority, grantee of FTZ 125,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for a proposed compact
recreational vehicle (RV) assembly operation at the plant of Coachmen
Recreational Vehicle Company (Coachmen), (subsidiary of Coachmen
Industries, Inc.) located in Middlebury, Indiana.
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 May 31, 1991.
The Coachmen plant (468,636 sq. ft. on 130 acres) is located at 423 North
Main St., Middlebury, Indiana, some 50 miles southeast of Chicago and 30
miles east of South Bend, Indiana. While the facility is currently used to
assemble a variety of vehicles, including Type A RVs and camping trailers,
subzone status is being requested only for the proposed manufacture of
compact (micro-mini) RVs (<6,000-lb. GVW). The company projects that the
new operation will employ some 85 persons in the first year of operation,
rising to 300 at full production. The micro-mini RV would be built on a
foreign-sourced light pickup truck cab/chassis. All other components and
materials would involve domestic or duty-paid merchandise.
Zone procedures would exempt Coachmen from Customs duty payments on the
foreign light pick-up truck cab/chassis used in vehicles produced for
export. On its domestic sales, the company would be able to choose the
lower finished vehicle duty rate (2.5 percent) rather than the pickup truck
cab/chassis rate (25 percent). The application indicates that zone savings
will help Coachmen improve its international competitiveness and increase
export sales. Two other domestic RV plants currently operate under zone
procedures: The Forest City, Iowa facility of Winnebago, Industries, Inc.
(FTZ Subzone 107A, Board Order 273, 49 FR 35971, 9/13/84); and, the Perris,
California facility of National RV (FTZ Subzone 50C, Board Order 484, 55 FR
35159, 8/28/90).
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has been
approved 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; Richard Roster,
District Director, U.S. Customs Service, North Central Region, suite 217,
610 South Canal Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607; and Colonel Richard Kanda,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Detroit, McNamara Federal
Building, 477 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48226.
Comments concerning the proposed subzones 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 July 29, 1991.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of the
following locations:
Office of the District Director,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
1406 Mid-Continental Plaza Bldg.,
55 E. Monroe St.,
Chicago, Illinois 60603.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., room 3716,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: June 13, 1991.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 91-14746 Filed 6-19-91; 8:45 am]