CentrePort already getting inquiries from abroad

JUST one day after CentrePort was named to become Canada's first foreign trade zone in a pilot project, CentrePort's phone is starting to ring.

CentrePort board chairman Kerry Hawkins said Friday they've already had calls from interested manufacturers from Korea, Europe, and two from China.

"There is certainly interest," Hawkins said in an interview.

Earlier this week, Premier Gary Doer and Stockwell Day, the federal minister of international trade and the Asia-Pacific Gateway, announced $3.5 million worth of funding for CentrePort.

CentrePort is being set up to run an inland port around the airport, with export-oriented manufacturing, warehousing and multi-modal distribution operations being located there.

Having CentrePort designated a foreign trade zone allows manufacturers who set up shop there to import parts duty-free and put them in their finished products before exporting them. Only then would the manufacturer pay taxes and duties on the finished goods.

Kansas City, Dallas-Fort Worth and Guanajuato, Mexico have the same designations.

Hawkins said he couldn't divulge the identities of the companies that called.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca 
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 10, 2009 B8