Hawai'i's Foreign Trade Zone 9 this month marked the arrival of its 40,000th shipment of goods — a load of Havaianas slippers from Brazil.

The shipment of 20,000 slippers was imported by Kaua'i-based Ribeiro Corp., one of the nation's leading importers of the Brazilian footwear. Ribeiro Corp. uses the foreign trade zone as a gateway to do business with companies on the Mainland and in Pacific Rim countries.

The shipment was symbolic of the effort by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to help small businesses in Hawai'i become involved in international trade, said Mark Anderson, deputy DBEDT director.

"In the years to come as we further establish our Pier 2 site as a hub for international trade we expect to be serving even more Island small businesses and making an even greater contribution to the welfare of Hawai'i's people," Anderson said.

Hawai'i has one of the largest and most diversified foreign trade zone programs in the country, with eight authorized general purpose sites and five subzones, he said.

Foreign trade zones, operated under the supervision of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, provide certain advantages to domestic companies involved in foreign trade. For example, duty-free treatment is accorded items that are processed in foreign trade zones and then re-exported, and duty payment is deferred on items until they are brought out of the foreign trade zones for sale in the United States.

The sites are designed to encourage foreign commerce and employment in the United States.