Port Hueneme : Customs Approves Port-of-Entry Status
The U.S. Customs Service has agreed to designate the Port of Hueneme as an official port of entry, officials said Friday.
Now that Customs has approved the designation, it goes to the Treasury Department for review.
“The new status will permit international shippers to move in and out of the port without delays that are usually associated with smaller ports,” said Anthony Taormina, executive director of the Oxnard Harbor District, the agency that operates the port.
The port is the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco and is in the midst of a five-year, $25-million capital improvement plan. Commercial operations at the port generate about $2 million a year in economic benefits for Ventura County, officials said.
About 750,000 tons move through the port each year, and 2,000 county residents are employed there, Taormina said.
Officials of the port first applied for the special status in 1978, but it was turned down three times, the director said.
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