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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 64-97]
Foreign-Trade Zone 124-Gramercy, LA, Application for Subzone
Status, Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. (Shipbuilding)
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones
Board (the Board) by the South Louisiana Port Commission, grantee
of FTZ 124, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the
shipbuilding facility of Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. (BSI), located
in Lockport, Louisiana. 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 August 11, 1997.
The BSI shipyard (250 acres, 334,000 sq.ft., 560 employees)
is located at 8365 State Highway 308, Lockport (LaFourche Parish),
Louisiana, and is used in the construction, repair, and conversion
of commercial and military vessels for domestic and international
customers. Foreign components used at the BSI shipyard (up to
30% of total) include propulsion units, engines and parts, gears,
pumps, pulleys, compressors and parts, measuring instruments
(duty rate range: free-6%, ad valorem).
FTZ procedures would exempt BSI from Customs duty payments
on the foreign components used in export activity. On its domestic
sales, the company would be able to choose the duty rate that
applies to finished oceangoing vessels (duty free) for the foreign-
origin components noted above. The manufacturing activity conducted
under FTZ procedures would be subject to the ``standard shipyard
restriction'' applicable to foreign-origin steel mill products
(e.g., pipe and plate), which requires that full duties be paid
on such items. The application indicates that the savings from
FTZ 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 three copies) shall be addressed
to the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The
closing period for their receipt is October 21, 1997. Rebuttal
comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing
period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period
(to November 5, 1997).
A copy of the application will be available for public inspection
at the following locations:
Office of the Port Director, U.S. Customs Service, P.O. Box
490, 110 North Airline Avenue, Gramercy, LA 70052
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
Room 3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street & Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: August 12, 1997.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-22271 Filed 8-21-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P