South Puget Sound Gets 4-County Trade Zone

SEATTLE - A unique foreign trade zone that covers four counties and 3,254 acres in the South Puget Sound region was approved by the Commerce Department and will be the first trade zone in the nation to include so many participants.

The South Puget Sound Foreign Trade Zone will include industrial sites owned by the port in Thurston County, the ports of Centralia and Chehalis in Lewis County, the Port of Shelton in Mason County and the Port of Bremerton in Kitsap County. Other participants include the cities of Lacey, Yelm and Chehalis and South Prairie Industrial Park south of Chehalis.

Importers, exporters and manufacturers operating within a foreign trade zone can delay paying import duties until imported items leave the FTZ. They also can reduce import duties by assembling finished products within the zone and can eliminate those duties entirely on goods that are re-exported to foreign

destinations.