Open House Promotes First of Its Kind Facility in Rockford-Belvidere Region

Capitol Warehousing and the Greater Rockford Airport Authority (GRAA) networked with industry and business partners, as they held an open house on Thursday, January 24, 2024. The open house, sponsored by BDG International, Inc., was the region’s introduction to the newly-activated Foreign Trade Zone 176 (FTZ#176) services available at Capitol Warehousing’s facility, in Belvidere, Illinois.

The facility, located at 2091 Tripp Road in Belvidere, is making history as being the first of its kind to offer FTZ as a warehousing service, within the region. With Capitol Warehousing now offering FTZ services to third parties, companies of all sizes and inventory volumes can access FTZ benefits, without needing to activate their own FTZ operations.

Carrie Zethmayr, representing FTZ#176 stated, “By managing inventory in an FTZ, a company defers its customs clearance process, thereby improving cash flow by deferring tariffs and reducing supply chain risk.”

Josh Rodman, general manager for Capitol Warehousing foresees a great cooperative relationship with regional companies taking advantage of their FTZ warehousing service. “We expect companies across Northern Illinois and Wisconsin to benefit from this service, further placing the Rockford-Belvidere region at the center of trade and investment activity.”

Services at Capitol Warehousing include FTZ – Import Tariff Deferral, Warehousing, Transloading and Fulfillment. More information on Capitol Warehousing’s services can be found on their website at https://capitolwhse.com/ftz/.

FTZ#176 is a program of the GRAA. To learn more about this program, please visit https://ftzrockford.com/.

About Capitol Warehousing
Capitol Warehousing is part of the Valley Express Family of Companies. In 2016, they opened the Menasha, WI facility to service the Fox Valley and Northeast Wisconsin. In August 2021, they acquired the Windsor facility to service the Madison and southern Wisconsin market and in December 2021 they opened the Belvidere, IL facility to service the upper Illinois market. All three warehouse facilities now offer the ability for their sister companies to have drivers and equipment based at each facility in order to service their customers’ transportation needs better.

About Greater Rockford Airport Authority
The Greater Rockford Airport Authority (GRAA) is the Grantee of the National FTZ Board that Administers FTZ #176.  The GRAA is one of the oldest airport authorities in the United States. Formed in 1946, the Authority has four jurisdictions that appoint a seven-member Board of Commissioners. 2006 marked the 60th anniversary of the Greater Rockford Airport Authority and 2007 marked the 20th anniversary of our Main Terminal. The Board of Commissioners is responsible for setting policies and ordinances governing the operations at RFD, which are carried out or enforced by a professional staff.