Locating a new manufacturing or distribution/warehousing facility in Northwest Louisiana offers your company the advantages of:

1. A centralized distribution location
2. Customs Port of Entry Services
3. Foreign trade zone benefits
4. Tax incentives which can quickly mount up to major cost savings for your operation.

Centralized Distribution Location: Northwest Louisiana is at the very center of the U.S. population with 57% of the population located east of Shreveport, 43% west, 55% north and 45% south.

Goods manufactured or ware-housed in the region can be shipped, usually at a lower cost, to locations throughout the South-east, Southwest and Central United States via truck, rail and air. In addition, work is continuing to return waterborne navigation to the area through the Red River Navigation project now under construction by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The area's excellent distribution location is the reason why a host of major national and international companies have located ware-housing and manufacturing facilities in Northwest Louisiana. These companies include:

• AT&T's Consumer Products Division and Distribution Center
• Action Material Handling
• American Honda
• Atlas Processing
• Boots Pharmaceuticals
• Clear Shield National
• Frymaster Corporation
• General Electric
• General Motors
• Genstar Inc.
• International Paper's International Box Division
• Kern Rubber
• Libbey Glass
• Ludlow Corporation
• Nelson Electric
• Orr Felt Company
• Riley Beaird
• Sunbeam
• Trus Joist
• Upjohn Corporation

U.S. Customs Port of Entry: To add to its desirability as a distribution center, The U.S. Customs Service recently opened a Port of Entry office in Shreveport-Bossier City. This enables products from around the world to be shipped and cleared here more expeditiously than at high traffic coastal ports of entry and at highly competitive rates.

Using the Shreveport-Bossier Customs office will not require any change in where your goods initially enter the U.S. If, for example, you have been entering your shipments on the West Coast and that is best for you, keep that schedule - but tell your Customhouse broker, freight forwarder or carrier that you want to clear the shipment at the Shreveport-Bossier Customs Port of Entry.

The Advantages of Clearing Your Import Shipments Locally:

1. Avoid delays: Many coastal ports of entry are jammed with imports. As a relatively new and smaller port of entry you will receive quick, personalized service from the Shreveport-Bossier City Customs office.
2. Convenience: Should your container require examination by the Customs office, with prior consent and arrangements, the container may be brought to your facility and examined there. If examination should be required at a distance port, you would have the additional cost of having to have the goods repacked before they can be shipped to you.
3. Save money: Many Northwest companies have found that now that Shreveport-Bossier is a Customs Port of Entry, they can eliminate wharfage fees, as well as transportation costs between the initial entry port and here. (Make sure you tell your customhouse broker, freight forwarder or carrier that you want "equalized rates" to the Shreveport-Bossier Port of Entry. It's too late to benefit from this potential transportation savings if you wait until the shipment arrives at the initial coastal port of entry to decide to have it shipped directly to Shreveport--Bossier.)
4. Reduce problems: By clearing your imported goods locally you'll be dealing with local people, who are easily accessible should any problems arise. It's a lot easier to clear up a problem with documents if you're able to talk face-to-face with the local Customs official than it is to try to handle the problem through a long-distance phone call. The availability of the U.S. Customs Port of Entry enabled Shreveport-Bossier City to file for a Foreign Trade Zone designation. With the granting of this designation smaller companies will be able to enjoy the advantages of an FTZ operation by utilizing the public Foreign Trade Zone, while larger companies may qualify for sub-zone operations at their own plant location.

Foreign Trade Zone Advantages:

What is a Foreign Trade Zone and how can your company benefit from its use? A Foreign Trade Zone is a secure area legally considered by the U.S. Government to be outside the domain of the U.S. Customs Service. This means foreign goods may be brought into the Zone without formal customs entry or the payment of duty and excise taxes until and unless they enter the United States. No duties are paid on merchandise re-exported from the Zone.

While in the Zone, the goods may be consolidated, processed, reassembled, repackaged, co-ming led with domestic goods, used in manufacturing, tested, repaired or simply stored until such time as they are needed.

The specific advantages of a Foreign Trade Zone are many, and include: Land and store your imports without customs worries - no duty, no federal taxes and no bond. Your property is protected around the clock - at no extra cost to you - due to the high security requirements the U.S. Customs Service has for FTZ operations.

• Process your goods to obtain lower duties. For example, a major manufacturing company currently imports a component that has a dutiable rate of 20%. By manufacturing it into a product with a dutiable rate of 2.5%, the manufacturer is able to reduce the component's duty from its original rate of 20% to 2.5%.
• Store imported inventories until they are needed, thereby delaying the payment of import duties and excise taxes. This allows you to keep operating capital free longer, because you won't pay duty until you sell or remove the goods from the zone. And, if you re-export, you never tie up your money with drawbacks.
• Test and repair goods without having to pay duty, and if the goods are defective and/or sub-standard you can discard them or return them to the vendor - and your cash has never been tied up in customs duty.
• Process imported goods to meet American or foreign market specifications and conditions; in effect, this gives you a duty free stop over for modification. For example, say your import components are used in manufacturing a product for distribution in the U.S., but you had an opportunity to sell that product in the United Kingdom if it was slightly modified to meet U.K. requirements. Since you've brought the components into the FTZ you haven't paid customs duty; you can modify the product to U.K. standards then export it without ever having to pay U.S. Customs duty on the original components.
• Re-label or re-mark merchandise in the zone to remove the liability of a fine being assessed because the goods reached U.S. customs territory without being properly marked.
• Import goods in excess of quota and hold them in the Zone until the next quota period.
• Insure your goods for only cost of goods and fright - not for value of goods plus duty and inventory and excise taxes.