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Over the past decade, TOMCO2 Systems, a manufacturer and distributor of carbon dioxide-management solutions, has gradually expanded its international reach and says that now, more than ever, it needs the Export-Import Bank of the United States to stick around.
With Ex-Im Chairman Fred Hochberg visiting its Loganville factory, leaders from the 45-year-old company called it a “stealth beneficiary” of the U.S. export-credit agency, whose charter is set to expire on June 30, because nearly half of its sales derive from deals with large corporations such as General Electric Co. and Mitsubishi whose products are shipped overseas and often backed by Ex-Im financing. Last year, a major transaction with GE sent TOMCO2’s sales soaring to $48 million from $37 million in 2013. (Read: Even Large Ex-Im Deals Benefit Small Firms)
While TOMCO2 has largely operated as both a domestic supplier and small-time exporter, it now sees a rapid increase in demand for its fire suppression technology due to a surge of power plant construction in the Middle East.
Jonathan Wax, vice president and secretary of TOMCO2 Systems, said that the company hopes to turn to the bank to insure these new deals because credit “is a real problem when shipping to small countries.
“We would hate to see the bank go away now, particularly when we’re ramping up our direct sales overseas,” Mr. Wax said.
Created during the Great Depression in attempt to strengthen a damaged global economy, Ex-Im provides financing for foreign companies purchasing U.S. products and offers loan guarantees for private banks lending to foreign buyers.
Proponents pushing Congress to reauthorize the widely debated federal agency usually cite its benefits for small suppliers to large, multinational corporations, while critics often denounce what they call“crony capitalist” favoritism toward those very corporations.
Mr. Hochberg, the Ex-Im chairman, who visited Atlanta last week to promote efforts to encourage Congress to reauthorize the bank called it “vitally important” for companies like TOMCO2 that start as indirect exporters and grow more independent.
“TOMCO2 needs certainty,” said Mr. Hochberg, who added that most people fail to realize the bank’s impact on small businesses trying to enter the global marketplace.
“We want to have the back of the American worker,” Mr. Hochberg told Global Atlanta at a tour of TOMCO2’s 15-acre grounds April 8.
With less than 100 days until Congress decides whether or not to save the 81-year-old federal agency, Mr. Hochberg said he is “feeling confident, but in no way assured” that the bank will survive.
Democratic Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, who supports renewing Ex-Im’s charter, said that as Congress gets “down to crunch time,” it is “not a given that the votes are there” to renew.
“We need representatives to know that the Ex-Im Bank is important for you all,” Mr. Johnson told executives at a meeting at TOMCO2’s Loganville headquarters last week.
Mr. Johnson also explained how misinformation and catchy phrases that generalize and distort the bank’s role hurt its chances.
“They don’t understand the need for a government entity like the Ex-Im Bank,” he said, regarding his congressional colleagues who oppose the bank. “It will take folks in D.C. hearing from people like TOMCO2.”
As the June deadline approaches, hundreds of Georgia exporters who benefit from the Ex-Im Bank have rallied together to raise awareness of the issue. A mass lobbying effort in late February organized by the Exporters for Ex-Im Coalition drew into Washington representatives from over 650 companies from 41 states.
Jeff Lamb, president of Newnan-based OptiLedge LLC and chair of the Georgia District Export Council, who attended the Washington fly-in, described the event as a “whirlwind” of back-to-back meetings that occasionally took place in coat closets and hallways for lack of space. OptiLedge manufactures recyclable plastic shipping platforms and relies on exports for roughly 20 percent of its revenue.
“We felt like we got a good reception,” said Mr. Lamb, who also observed that representatives from Delta Air Lines who lobbied against Ex-Im were numerous and “easy to spot” in full, flight uniform.
“A lot of the members in Georgia fundamentally understand that this is a required thing,” Mr. Lamb told Global Atlanta, regarding his trip to Washington. “The sense I got is that they didn’t want to get too far ahead of it because they are taking a lot of heat from the far right Tea Party types.”
Mr. Lamb said he saw indications that a reform bill will eventually resolve the issue.
For more on the Ex-Im debate in Georgia, view these commentaries: