By Carol Coultas,Business Writer

AUBURN – Bob Cooper and Mark Hammond listened with interest as the guest speaker talked of the success of Georgia’s three Foreign-Trade Zones.

As president and general manager, respectively, of Bisson Transportation, the pair were intrigued to hear Julie Brown tell members of the Auburn Business Development Corp. about the $30 billion in goods that have passed through the zones, and the 15,000 jobs associated with them since their inception in 1977.

“The marketing is different, but it’s still interesting,” said Hammond, speaking of Brown’s presentation.

Hammond and Cooper have a vested interest in the development of Auburn’s Foreign-Trade Zone – to the tune of about $13 million.

Bisson is planning to build a 300,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in a new industrial park on Kittyhawk Avenue. The park was formed to attract businesses that can benefit from Foreign-Trade Zone designation. An FTZ is considered to be outside U.S. Customs territory. That means U.S. companies importing foreign goods pay no duties until the goods are sold domestically, or they pay no duties at all if the goods are sold offshore.

The arrangement works for businesses in Georgia such as Delta Airlines, which imports its jet fuel from offshore oil refineries. The fuel is shipped to a Georgia FTZ, before being loaded into international flights. The delivery route allows Delta to pay no duty on the fuel, representing significant savings to the company, said Brown, who is president of Georgia Foreign Trade Zone Inc., the oversight agency for the FTZs.

Other companies within the FTZs also see savings. Pratt & Whitney imports its raw materials – including titanium parts for making aircraft – through the FTZ in Atlanta. Siemens Corp. told Brown that without the FTZ savings, it would have relocated to Tennessee.

Leaders of Bisson Transportation hope Auburn’s FTZ and their new warehouse will help draw new clients to the 96-year-old transportation firm. Although many Mainers know of it as a moving company for homes and businesses, Bisson’s biggest division is its freight operation.

Hammond said about 400 truckloads of goods per month are shipped via Bisson, mostly throughout the eastern half of the United States. The Bath-based company was looking for a site for a distribution center with access to the St. Lawrence and Atlantic railway when it came upon the Auburn location. The advantage of the FTZ designation was an added boon.

The plan is to build the warehouse, which will ultimately be about the size of the Auburn Mall, in phases. The first phase is planned for the spring of 2006, said Cooper.

He and Hammond said the advantage to at least one customer is already clear. Bisson currently transports recreational vehicles for a client in the Midwest to dealerships throughout the Northeast. By building the warehouse, Bisson can maintain a local inventory of the vehicles and then deliver them on a fast, as-needed basis to dealerships.

“It’s a better delivery schedule and more efficient for our client, plus it increases their customer service and, hopefully, sales,” said Hammond.

The client could gain additional benefits if those vehicles are made overseas, and then shipped to the Bisson warehouse, which is in the FTZ. Since the duties on the vehicles aren’t collected until they are sold, it improves the company’s cash flow.

Cooper said many pieces have to fall into place before the operation can really take off, but he thinks the novel arrangement of services and amenities will attract the necessary businesses.

“I think the economics of this project will be very attractive to the economic development community statewide,” he said.

Brown said the key to success with an FTZ is patience. Although Georgia’s FTZs have been around for decades, only 12 companies take advantage of them. But the gains they reap and the ripple effect they create is worth it, she said.