Foreign Trade Zone Coming to Vancouver?

McKenna's Western Canadian facility is located in the Municipality of Delta, BC, a community undergoing some very significant changes. In an effort to expand Vancouver's role in Pacific trade, the federal and provincial governments have began major construction to improve rail and road access to Deltaport, and have built additional terminals at the port. As many of these projects approach completion, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure have recently commissioned a report examining the feasibility of establishing a special foreign trade zone adjacent to the port. The objective of this trade zone is to attract economic activity to the area that would otherwise take place abroad.

 

The report explains that the basic concept of the zone is that goods in them are considered to be outside the customs territory of the country. Certain types of merchandise can be imported into a zone without going through formal customs entry procedures or paying import duties. Custom duties and excise taxes would only be due at the time of transfer out of the zones, for domestic consumption. If the merchandise never enters domestic commerce, and it's exported to another country, then no duties or taxes would be paid on those items. Some of the goods could be stored, while awaiting re-export or entry into the domestic economy. Other goods may be processed or assembled using local labour, to add value to the products. This zone would create a fantastic opportunity to manage the entire Western North America region with one consolidated inventory.

 

Eric Waltz, president of Global Container Terminals Canada, was recently interviewed, and said that the land adjacent to Deltaport, which is also eyed for major expansion in the next few years, could be the ideal candidate for a foreign trade zone. Another positive would be the close proximity to the Peace Arch border crossing into the United States, which is a short 20 minute drive from the proposed location. Logistically speaking, freight moving to Seattle could be done in a 3-4 hour transit time, making same day expedited shipping feasible, and 2 days into Los Angeles, for team driven trucks.

 

As these new options become available, we will continue to explore and expand McKenna's strategic position on the West Coast of Canada. The Pacific Gateway project will continue to add to our ability to provide a Western based logistics solution for our mass retail, internet based and independent clients.