Tenerife FREE PORT Santa Cruz has been an internationally privileged harbor with special status since 1852.
The special conditions may apply to the whole area or a part of the port..
A map where you will locate the port can be found, here. Imported consignments may be held or transformed without customs duties before reexporting them. Often, no duties apply for loading or offloading vessels which are normally a great cost factor.
Many people think that a Free Port means that they may pay less for products on the island. This is not necessarily the case. Whatever comes from foreign places will carry more or less import duty depending on tariffs when it's offloaded and enters the city.
For over 150 years, now, Santa Cruz has been deviating ocean freight consignments to other places.
It has become more interesting for Europe, now, since more and more countries have joined the EU.
The processing or transforming of merchandise is the most interesting but, few investors are aware of it as far as this Canary Islands Free International Trade status is concerned.
Tax incentives are great for creating companies for such investments for international business between Europe, Africa, America and Asia in the Canary Islands Free zone which are regulated by the REF.
Once deviated from provisional storage houses within customs of the biggest of all Canary Islands that is part of Europe like Spain no final import charges should apply once the goods arrive at their destination as they will be shipped from a place in Europe to a different destination within.
Please, get in touch with an experienced international forwarding agent in the capital Santa Cruz to have details for the use of the Free Port explained to you.
To make deviating from Santa Cruz Harbor a saving we must first calculate all possible costs involved and compare them to costs which would occur when importing via sea freight directly into other European ports. This is why you need to have all your costs worked out by the experts beforehand.
The time factor for deviation and or/transformation in a Free Port should also be taken into consideration to make international business ventures viable.