Aug. 4—LAURINBURG — The Southeast Regional Airport Authority has been actively working toward being designated a Foreign Trade Zone status since January, but those plans have had a setback.
A Foreign Trade Zone, according to Assistant Director Seth Hatchell, would offer benefits to companies involved in importing and exporting products, which would effectively grant them some of the same benefits as international companies.
"After hiring an FTZ Consultant, it was determined that the best option would be to request an expansion of FTZ 93 ( Raleigh) to include Scotland County," said Hatchell "We received word that the United States Foreign Trade Zone Board denied our request due to adjacency requirements.
"Adjacency Requirements regulate that all areas inside the FTZ must be within 60 miles or within a 90-minute drive, from the Customs port of entry," Hatchell added. "The U.S. FTZ Board stated that all of Scotland County did not meet the criteria and, as such, the application was denied."
Hatchell further stated that airport management and Economic Development Director Mark Ward will be meeting with FTZ 93 Adminstrator Renee Boyette and FTZ Consultant Kathy Wilkins on Thursday for a debriefing on the situation.
"In the meeting, we will discuss why our application was denied and our next steps moving forward," said Hatchell. "As you can imagine, we were quite disappointed by this news. When we began this process, all parties involved were very confident that FTZ status would be achievable through this route.
"This was only bolstered when Customs and Border Protection out of Raleigh informed us that they would serve Scotland County, should the expansion be granted," continued Hatchell. "However, in the rejection email, the U.S. FTZ Board stated that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had chastised them in 2015 for approving FTZ expansions outside of the predetermined adjacency requirements."
This is by no means the end of the search for FTZ status for the SRAA, according to Hatchell.
" The Southeast Regional Airport Authority is confident that it is only a matter of time before the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport and surrounding industrial park is incorporated into a Foreign Trade Zone," said Hatchell.
JJ Melton can be reached at [email protected]
___
(c)2021 The Laurinburg Exchange (Laurinburg, N.C.)
Visit The Laurinburg Exchange (Laurinburg, N.C.) at www.laurinburgexchange.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.