Miami Free Trade Zone
If you’ve read our other free trade zone information (check out our pages on the Panama Free Zone and China Free Zone) you understand that working with an FTZ has huge advantages for international shippers. But FTZs aren’t just in other countries – they’re all over the United States, too. When it comes to shipping in South Florida, you can take advantage of two: the Miami Free Zone and the Foreign Trade Zone 281. Because our ShipLilly International headquarters is located right in the area, we have the proximity and resources you need to optimize your supply chain.
About FTZs in the United States
How do you know if you should take advantage of the Miami Free Trade Zone? There are a number of benefits to using the Miami FTZ for all your importing and exporting. Essentially, when you operate under free trade zone procedures your company is treated (at least as far as customs duties go) as if it is located outside the United States. This means that:
- You don’t have to pay import duties on imported components coming to your factory
- If your finished product is being shipped somewhere in the U.S., you may have the option to pay duties on the finished product rather than the components
- If you are exporting the finished product, you don’t ever have to pay duties on the component materials
Get a FREE detailed quote with just a few clicks!
And That’s Not All
In addition to the savings already mentioned, shippers can also reduce costs by avoiding paying duties on imported materials that become scrap. Plus, you can file a duty drawback form to reclaim some of your duties payments. It is even possible to save money by reducing administrative fees by operating within the FTZ.
The Miami Free Trade Zone is especially helpful if you are collecting materials or raw parts in the U.S. for manufacturing purposes. By operating within this region you can sort, destroy, clean, and grade merchandise, and even mix foreign and domestic goods. You can also label, assemble, manufacture, exhibit, sell, and repackage whatever components or finished products require it. Compare this to working through a bonded warehouse, where all you get to do is clean, repackage, and sort products. Not much of a comparison, is it?
Other Benefits
Depending on your needs as a company, you can also enjoy additional advantages to using an FTZ.
- Appraisal and classification – determine the value of merchandise at your discretion, whether that is when goods enter or leave the zone
- Storage periods – enjoy zero time restrictions on your goods (bonded warehouses require you to destroy or export goods within five years of importation)
- Merchandise processing fee – pay your MPF as a weekly summary rather than per entry and save both time and money
- Harbor processing fee – optimize your cash flow by paying your HMF up to 30 days after a quarterly filing (typical shipments don’t allow for deferment)
As you can tell, knowing all the ins and outs of free trade zones can be rather complicated. There’s a long list of benefits, but you need to make sure you do what’s best for your company. ShipLilly can help with that. We will help determine if an FTZ is right for your business. If it is, we will fill out all the paperwork, process the application, respond to any questions from CBP, and make sure that you can start operating in the Miami FTZ as soon as possible.
Contact Us Now!
A simple call with our logistics specialists will ensure you choose the best service according to your needs and destination.
Call us today at:
