Maryland entrepreneur gearing up to exportBy Peter A. Buxbaum, AJOTEric Henderson hasn’t used the Port of Baltimore as an exporter yet, but he is ramping up operations to do just that in the near future. Henderson wears two hats when it comes to international trade. He owns a company, Global Building Systems, based in North Carolina, that manufactures and exports engineered, (sometimes called prefabricated), structures. He is also the CEO of XCBG International, a trade management company, based in Bowie, MD. “I anticipate using the Maryland ports beginning next month for a couple of shipments,” Henderson said. He plans to use the Port of Baltimore regularly thereafter, after he moves Global Business Systems from North Carolina to a foreign trade zone being set up in Capitol Heights, Maryland, near Washington, DC. Atapco Properties, a Baltimore-based company, will be running the facility, which is being bankrolled by the Prince George’s County Economic Development Authority. The one-million square foot Foreign Trade Zone 63, also known as the Steeplechase 95 International Business Park, will include both manufacturing and commercial space. Henderson plans to maintain an office in Steeplechase 95 for his export management concern as well. “I try to source components from the United States,” said Henderson, “but when exporters sometimes need component parts from overseas, it is helpful to use a foreign trade zone.” Foreign trade zones allow exporters to import components into the zone, incorporate them in their products, and then re-export them without incurring any Customs liabilities. Foreign Trade Zone 63 was officially activated in late July, when Restaurant Depot, a New York-based supplier to restaurants, also with export operations in Asia and South America, signed a lease to build a 65,000 square foot facility at Steeplechase 95. Henderson’s Global Building Systems currently exports to Germany, South Africa, and Mexico. “We’re also working on deals in the millions in Bermuda for engineered buildings,” Henderson said. The structures, which are used to construct homes, schools, and other facilities, are prefabricated from panelized steel which are then packed in forty-foot ocean going containers. “All the components are fully color coded, labeled, and numbered so that they are easy to assemble at the constructions site,” Henderson explained. GBS has used the ports of Charleston and Houston thus far, but the “Maryland iteration of our company will use the Baltimore ports because they are nearest to the new manufacturing facility.” Henderson is looking forward to making use of that proximity. “I have amazingly good feeling and impressions about doing business with the Port of Baltimore,” he said. “The Maryland port officials have been very responsive. From what I’ve seen and heard, it is a very well run port.” Building a Maryland company portfolio The other side of Henderson’s enterprise, XCBG International, makes use of Henderson’s many years of experience as the United States government’s commercial attaché at the World Bank, and before that in various positions at the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. “As an export management company, we are an export facilitator and also provide investment advisory services as far as the placement of US investments overseas,” Henderson said. “I would like to build the preeminent export company in Maryland, if not the entire mid-Atlantic region,” he added. “I have people on the ground, some of whom are retired commercial officers in various countries around the world, others have been represented the United States and states like Florida and Maryland in international trade matters. This makes us uniquely qualified to help US exporters because we have been doing it on the government side. Other export representatives sell their services on the basis that their brother-in-law knows some minister’s gardener.” Often, Henderson receives leads from his overseas partners on potential buy