| Foreign -Trade Zones Board | HOME |
| Enforcement and Compliance |
|
last update: September 2002 |
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Foreign-Trade Zones Board [Docket 71-96] Foreign-Trade Zone 29--Louisville, Kentucky Application for Expansion and Request for Manufacturing Authority (Military Ordnance)An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) Board (the Board) by the Louisville and Jefferson County Riverport Authority, grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone 29, requesting authority to expand FTZ 29, Louisville, Kentucky, to include three additional sites, including a Naval Ordnance facility which is used for military weapons repair and maintenance activity. 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 September 26, 1996.
FTZ 29 was approved on May 26, 1977 (Board Order 118, 42 FR 29323, 6/8/77), and expanded on January 31, 1989 (Board Order 429, 54 FR 5992, 2/7/89). The zone project currently consists of the following two sites in the Louisville, Kentucky area: Site 1 (1,319 acres)--located within the Riverport Industrial Complex; and Site 2 (675 acres)--located at the junction of Gene Snyder Freeway and La Grange Road in eastern Jefferson County.
The applicant is now requesting authority to expand the general- purpose zone. The three additional sites requested are: Proposed Site 3 (142 acres, 1,629,000 sq. ft.)--the United States Navy Ordnance Facility (currently in the process of being privatized), located at 5403 Southside Drive, Louisville; Proposed Site 4 (2,311 acres, 6,184,406 sq. ft.)--consisting of the Louisville International Airport and three other airport-related parcels (Parcel A (1,626 acres)--the Louisville International Airport, including the Airport's industrial park area; Parcel B (94 acres)--the Dixie Warehouse & Cartage Co. public warehousing facility located at Grade Lane, Louisville; Parcel C (475 acres)--the UPS Airport Tank Farm and maintenance facilities located at the Louisville International Airport; and, Parcel D (116 acres)--the UPS Outer Loop warehousing facility located at Stennett Lane, Louisville); and, Proposed Site 5 (70 acres)--the Ashland Inc. Tank Farm (1.3 million barrels) and pipelines, located at 4510 Algonquin Parkway along the Ohio River, Louisville, which supplies part of the airport's fuel system.
Ownership of the Naval Ordnance Facility (Site 3) is currently being transferred to the Louisville/Jefferson County Redevelopment Authority for use by private firms that are authorized by the Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct weapons repair activity for the U.S. military, as well as for foreign governments. The facility would also be available for authorized non-military commercial activity.
Authorization is being requested for activity at Site 3, which will involve the repair, overhaul and refurbishing of military weapons systems under FTZ procedures. The weapons include cannons, gun systems (20mm to 5 inches), missiles, missile hardware, missile and torpedo launchers, radar, navigational equipment and sights. The components and materials sourced from abroad include cannons, launchers, guided missile parts, telescopic sights, mechanical devices, fabricated structures, air or vacuum pumps, air conditioning machines, electric motor generators, computer automated data processing machines, gaskets, magnets, and batteries, transformers, electrical apparatus for line telephony, headphones and parts, recording media transmission apparatus, radar apparatus, indicator panels, capacitors, resistors, printed circuits, displays cathode ray tubes, meters diodes and transistors, insulators and fittings, optical fibers, lenses and mirrors lenses for projection, test instruments, oscilloscopes, analyzers, and measuring/checking instruments. FTZ procedures would provide duty-free treatment for export shipments, and for shipments to the U.S. military. While operated as a Naval facility, activity was conducted under special Customs procedures applicable to DOD. FTZ status will allow the activity to continue on a similar Customs basis after conversion takes place.
FTZ procedures will exempt the foreign components used in production for export from Customs duties. With respect to domestic sales, most shipments would qualify for duty-free treatment under DOD's military certificate program rather than being subject to the duty rate that would otherwise apply to the foreign components (duty-free to 15%). The application indicates that the savings from zone procedures would help improve the facility's international competitiveness.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ staff has been designated examiner to investigate the application and report to the Board.
Public comment on the application is invited from interested parties. Submissions (original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing period for their receipt is December 9, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to December 23, 1996).
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available during this time for public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, 601 W. Broadway, Room 634B, Louisville, Kentucky 40202 Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zone Board, Room 3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: October 3, 1996. John J. Da Ponte, Jr., Executive Secretary. [FR Doc. 96-25956 Filed 10-8-96; 8:45 am]