In the zone

In the 18 months that area businesses have had access to the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport's U.S. Foreign Trade Zone, only Bass Pro Shops has utilized it. Four times.

That's apparently not enough to keep FTZ Administrator Louanna Burress employed; the Airport Board has decided not to renew Burress' monthly contract to operate the zone.

Burress will step down July 1. Burress was paid $26,000 annually, plus expenses, for the part-time position.

"She fulfilled the goals and objectives of the contract," said airport Director Rob Hancik. However, "there hasn't been a whole lot of activity over there."

Looking to increase trade zone use, board members have decided to seek out an import management firm to run the zone. Hancik said that could take as long as two months; he hopes to have a firm named by the end of summer. Hancik will serve as trade zone administrator in the interim.

Burress said she is satisfied with fulfilling the contract.

"You don't plan on seeing results right away," she said. "We've accomplished what we set out to do. And in the process we obtained a user. There will be others."

Trade zone use

The first of the four Bass Pro foreign trade zone shipments arrived just a month after Burress initiated approval for Springfield's zone in December 2001. Three other shipments followed in subsequent months, but the zone has been stagnant since May 2002.

Although local businesses are not taking advantage of the potential savings of the trade zone, Greg Williams, senior vice president of economic development at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said it is needed. He views it as an economic development tool.

"It's but one tool, but it's one that can be very advantageous to a certain business or industry that is considering to locate in the community," Williams said.

The zone covers all airport land, including Partnership Industrial Center West, a fact Williams considers a long-term benefit to the city.

"While many businesses don't utilize the benefit because frankly they don't need it some do and it could be a very attractive incentive sometime down the line," he added.

Hancik agrees.

"When you get inquiries from companies, that is one of the questions they ask: Do you have an airport? Do you have rail? Do you have a foreign trade zone? Do you have industrial parks?

"If you don't have a foreign trade zone, you're at a disadvantage for those companies that need to have that capability around."

Improving efficiency

While a foreign trade zone can aid business attraction, Randy Campbell, National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones executive director, said local industry should not be overlooked.

"Oftentimes the focus for zones that are in the same type of situation as the one there in Springfield look to the outside and try to design there zone project to be strictly a business attraction tool and, in fact, it very rarely ends up to be that," Campbell said from Washington, D.C. "The greatest benefit for the zones tends to be existing companies that can now find a manner to operate more efficiently.

"It is an important tool for attraction of companies, but let's face it, even the most successful economic development activities have one or two major successes every five or six years. It's important to use it as an attraction tool, but it's very important to use it as a retention tool."

Increasing awareness

The problem in Springfield is that local companies just aren't biting, leaving officials puzzled.

"It's difficult to say (why business have not used it). The companies that could take advantage of it, for whatever reason, have not," Burress said.

Williams attributes some of the problem to lack of awareness in the business community.

"I think that the primary issue right now is that many in business and industry don't know that the foreign trade zone exists," Williams said.

It is the chamber's job to publicize that, he said.

Future potential

Two of Springfield's importers contacted for this article Grizzly Industrial and Decorize.com said they have no use for the trade zone at this time, but they are not ruling it out in the future.

"I think it is a good thing to do, but we're not in that mode right now," said Alex Budzinsky, Decorize executive vice president, because the company's imported furniture is most often shipped direct to customers.

Grizzly store manager Pat Raynor said the import tool company stores its product in its 300,000-square-foot warehouse built adjacent to the showroom.

Bass Pro Shops did not return phone calls for the article.

Hancik said he does not blame Burress for the slow development.

"(Burress') prime objective was to get the zone activated. ... She did that, and there is relatively little activity in the zone right now, so we're going to try a different way to do it someone who has a broader reach around the world. We're just putting a proposal package together to see what we can get," Hancik said.

But the fact that one company used the zone in its first year is notable, Campbell said, due to an educational process of what a foreign trade zone does for businesses.

"It's not unusual for a project to sit without a user for several years before it turns into a success," he said.