Foreign Trade Zone
The City of Hitchcock is home to the only Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) located in an industrial park within Galveston County. The FTZ was created through the Foreign-Trade Zones Act to “expedite and encourage foreign commerce” in the United States. This is accomplished through the designation of geographical areas, in or adjacent to Customs Ports of Entry, where commercial merchandise receives the same Customs treatment it would if it were outside the commerce of the United States.
Merchandise of every description may be held in the Zone without being subject to customs duties and other ad valorem taxes. This tariff and tax relief is designed to lower the costs of U.S.-based operations engaged in international trade and thereby create and retain the employment and capital investment opportunities that result from those operations.
Foreign Trade Zone
These special geographic areas — Foreign-Trade Zones — are established “in or adjacent to” U.S. Ports of Entry and are under the supervision of the U.S. Customs Service. The primary mission of Hitchcock Foreign Trade Zone is to provide the local industries and other enterprises engaging in international commerce with a competitive global marketing advantage that stimulates expansion of their operations and enhances the local, state, and national economies. A U.S.-based manufacturer can bring foreign-sourced parts or materials into the Zone, pay no duty, incorporate those parts or materials into a finished product using U.S. parts and labor, and, if the finished product entered the U.S. commerce, pay duty on the taxes on the foreign non-duty-paid content.
The Hitchcock EDC assists with recruiting and marketing of the local Foreign Trade Zone, which offers interested parties the chance to create a subzone that is then operated by the business and provides reports to their FTZ Operator of choice. There are a number of consultants and sources of information as to how a company can create a subzone within a designated FTZ. Interested parties may learn more by visiting the Blimp Base Industrial Park website.
