Money was the motivation in Siena Marble and Mosaic’s

decision to expand to an industrial park at Immokalee Regional Airport. Through

the airport’s free-trade zone, the family-owned business, which generated $4

million in revenue last year, expects to save about 5 percent a year on

tariffs.

As a result, the company, which currently employs 50, plans

to hire 170 more workers within two to three years as it moves into a $1.5

million, 50,000-square-foot facility to cut imported raw marble into floor and

wall tiles, and decorative mosaics and tabletops.

Siena Marble is taking advantage of a little-known

government program available in Southwest Florida. Created by Congress in 1934,

the Foreign Trade Zones Act allows businesses to bring in foreign goods and

avoid tariffs until they’re brought out of the zones. The zones were formed to

keep businesses from moving outside the United States to avoid tariffs. Most

federal regulations, including workplace and environmental rules, still apply;

but companies can get a break on 2- to 30-percent tariffs on everything from

steel to textiles.

“You have to be competitive these days globally, and this is

a great way to help businesses manage customs costs,” says Dennis Puccinelli,

secretary of the Foreign Trade Zones Board in Washington, D.C.

Last year, $238 billion in goods went through the country’s

252 foreign trade zones. The biggest beneficiaries are airlines, which get a

discount on fuel. Airports in Collier and Lee counties had $23 million move

through trade zones last year. In comparison, Florida’s busiest trade zone, in

Miami-Dade County, moved $570 million in goods last year.

Companies that manufacture products using imported parts

benefit most from the zones. The imported goods can be assembled in the zone

and then the tariff is applied to only the cheapest imported part on the

finished product. For example, bicycle makers can put together bikes worth

hundreds of dollars with foreign parts and be taxed on only a $2 front tire.

More companies haven’t relocated to these zones because

they’re confused about the benefits, says Bill Phelan, a Connecticut-based

lawyer and free-trade zone consultant who is working with Southwest Florida

International Airport to get businesses to relocate to its free-trade zone.

So far, the only non-airline business owner to take

advantage of Southwest Florida International’s free-trade zone is Dom DeCecco.

Using the zone, DeCecco’s Interfarben-IDD, which imports garment dyes from

Germany, gets a small break on 7 percent tariffs for every shipment of dyes he

brings from Germany.

“It worked well for me, but it also got me thinking, ‘This

could save 10 percent or more for some big importer,’” DeCecco says. Few

businesses know about the deals offered in zones, he says, and many may be

willing to relocate if they know the money they can save. As a result, he

launched a subsidiary, Inter-Cargo SWF, a free-trade zone brokering business

that specializes in freight forwarding, bonded trucking services and

on-premises customs brokerage.

Some businesses can use creative ways to benefit from the

zones, says John Drury, executive director of the Collier County Airport Authority.

For example, researchers can use the zones to run tests on animals that

otherwise would not be allowed to enter the United States.

To develop its free-trade zone, Immokalee Regional is

building a 10,000-square-foot warehouse that will allow businesses to hold

merchandise before clearing customs. This can benefit companies that import

seasonal material such as Christmas decorations that may need to be shipped

into the United States months earlier than

needed. The businesses can then wait to pay the tariff until the goods

are used.

A federal inspection station and cargo processing facility

is expected to open by year-end to move imported goods more quickly through

Immokalee’s zone. Federal employees from several agencies charged with

inspecting foreign goods will use the facility; currently, they go through the

more time-consuming process of driving in from other offices.

Meanwhile, Siena Marble owner Tony Dinorcia advises that

getting approval to operate in the zone isn’t as simple as building elsewhere.

It took the government two years to sign off on the permits for Siena’s

building. “There are lots of benefits to working out there, but there are lots

of permitting issues, too,” he says.

The Contacts

For more information on Southwest Florida’s foreign-trade

zones and how your business might benefit from them, try these organizations:

Lee County Port Authority

(239) 768-4381

Collier County Airport Authority

(239) 642-7878

Foreign Trade Zones Board Web site

http://ia.ita.doc.gov/ftzpage