The Columbus Regional Airport Authority says the Rickenbacker foreign-trade zone is ranked ninth in the nation for the total value of all goods imported last year. Alison Holm reports.
There are 186 active trade zones in the U.S. Trade zones provides tax breaks and cost savings to companies importing foreign goods. Rickenbacker's zone also ranked first in the nation for the total value of last year's textile and footwear imports. The authority, which manages the airport, says more than 7.8 billion dollars worth of goods moved through the zone last year, an increase of 37 percent from 2014. Textiles and footwear accounted for 6.2 billion dollars of those imports. The report says 8.9 billion dollars worth of textiles and footwear were imported into the U.S. last year. In a written statement, authority vice president David Whitaker says the ranking is "a testament to the strong distribution and logistics landscape in the region, and our strong partners in the retail sector." Whitaker says more distribution centers will become active in the zone in the next few years, so the trend is likely to continue.
