Border free-trade program growth cited; national backlog slowing approvals, board hears
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Summary
An agency official told the advisory board that the airport's FTC/FTZ program now lists 65 operators with 76 sites (62 active), reported a backlog at the national office and said job-count figures are being adjusted upward from last year's 323 to more than 500 currently, with an estimate of about 550 by month end.
An agency official briefed the Rio International Airport advisory board on the local foreign-trade/FTC program’s current status, saying the program now has 65 operators with 76 sites (62 active and 14 awaiting CBP activation because of missing paperwork). The official said the National FTC board has a backlog of roughly 350 cases and that approvals nationwide have been slow (the official reported four approvals from November through February).
The presenter gave a jobs-accounting update and said employment figures are being reworked: "We are going to grow from 323 jobs last year... today it was 521... so we would probably get around to 550 jobs by the end of this month," the official said. The official also reported about 1,750,000 square feet (roughly 40 acres) of activated, approved space.
Board members asked about reactions from presentations the official gave in Brownsville and Reynosa; the speaker said regional attendees were interested in how the FTC program interfaces with IMEX/INDIX and how tariff and USMCA revision questions might affect future production and growth.
The official said some local applicants remain on hold while others are completing paperwork; staff and board members discussed regional differences in application volumes and noted resource constraints at the national office.
Board members did not take a formal vote on the briefing but acknowledged the report and asked staff to share presentation materials as requested.
