Regina hub declared Foreign Trade Zone
REGINA — Federal designation as a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) will help the Global Transportation Hub (GTH) “level the playing field” with competitors and attract more tenants to the 1,800-acre logistics, storage and distribution centre west of Regina, says Bryan Richards, president and CEO of the GTH.
“The potential for clients to be eligible for exemptions and duty deferrals and tariff deferrals is a significant addition to our unique value proposition,” Richard said in an interview Monday.
“This puts us on a level playing field with other Canadian locations and global locations in this key area.”
On Monday, the province announced the federal government had approved GTH as an FTZ, a “federally authorized location where imported goods may be stored, processed or assembled without being subject to import duties.”
An FTZ gives companies in the import and export business the ability to reduce and eliminate trade barriers, such as tariffs, quotas and compliance costs, which lowers operating costs and gets goods to market faster and more efficiently.
Economy Minister Bill Boyd, minister responsible for the GTH, said in a press release that FTZ status “opens the door to additional market opportunities and foreign investors, which we expect will create more economic growth and jobs in Saskatchewan.
“Being declared an FTZ puts the GTH on a more level playing field with other global locations and showcases Saskatchewan as a more attractive trading partner.”
The GTH is now one of only six regions in Canada granted FTZ status. In Western Canada, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver all have FTZ status.
“It’s just a competitive advantage from our perspective,” Richards said.
Established five years ago, the GTH has attracted $485 million in private investment and created nearly 800 jobs by clients, such as CP Rail, Loblaw Companies, Consolidated Fastfrate, Emterra and Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Corp. A self-governing inland port authority, the GTH is situated near the CP Rail main line and close to two major highways.
However, in recent years, the pace of development at the GTH has slowed. In 2013, SaskPower purchased 145 acres at the GTH and planned to build 500,000 square feet of office and warehouse space by 2018, but has yet to develop the land. Morguard’s recently completed TransLink Logistics Centre has nearly 135,000 square feet of vacant space — more than one-third of the vacant industrial space in the Regina area. In fact, Morguard’s only tenant is the GTH itself.
Richards conceded the slower economy has slowed the development of the GTH.
“We’ve had national and international crises in 2009 and 2010 and the oil and gas downturn. All of those things have impacts and we’re working through that.”
Richards said a couple of new tenants could be attracted to the GTH in the coming months as a result of FTZ designation.
“I definitely believe ... the GTH is certainly becoming a lot more known in many areas of the world.”
NDP critic Trent Wotherspoon said the GTH has failed to live up to the Sask. Party government’s hype.
“We’re late in the development of the GTH,” Wotherspoon said. “If this (FTZ) is an important measure, why was this never pursued a long time ago?”