UPS has converted four major US airport gateways into foreign trade zones (FTZ) and expanded its Zone Solutions services.

Converting Chicago O’Hare, New York John F. Kennedy, Dallas Fort Worth and Los Angeles extends UPS’s FTZ-related capabilities beyond warehousing and distribution to help clients manage end-to-end processes from dealing with customs to inventory control.

The Zone Solutions has been integrated and expanded within its customs brokerage, warehousing, logistics and transportation business.

Jeff McCorstin, president of UPS Global Brokerage and Customs says: “Adding FTZs enables customers to streamline compliance validations to mitigate risk and promote savings on their international airfreight shipments by leveraging FTZ-designated gateway facilities.”

The utilisation of the FTZ programme provides opportunities for duty elimination on exports and scrap, as well as duty deferral on foreign status inventory in an activated FTZ.

Importers in industries such as consumer electronics tend to pay high duty rates when importing products.

Foreign trade zones help reduce duties by using regulations to provide cost-savings through duty deferral, duty elimination, tariff inversion, fee consolidation and streamlined US Customs procedures.