By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOTEmbargoed since 1962, open US trade with Cuba might soon become a reality, and ocean carriers and terminal operators alike are poised to capitalize upon opportunities both for shipping goods to the Caribbean’s most populous island and initiating transshipment operations on Cuban shores. Crowley Maritime Corp.’s vice president of government services, Jay Brickman, said that, with an opening of trade, Cuban hubbing operations could well come to be along with, of course, a stream of goods shipped in from US ports. Following US government authorization of limited agricultural and pharmaceutical products to Cuba, Crowley initiated US-Cuba sailings in December 2001 and continues to serve the island with weekly voyages from South Florida’s Port Everglades to Havana, carrying licensed cargos such as frozen poultry and pork loins, fertilizer and cotton. Crowley, which is the only US container carrier currently in US-Cuba trade, routes its Havana sailings on to Guatemala and Honduras, where goods for US consumption are loaded, before returning to Port Everglades, as US law forbids the carriage of Cuban products to the United States. Brickman said he believes Mariel, the site of a former naval base on the island’s northwest coast, is the most likely candidate for a Cuban transshipment port. The port of Santiago, on the southeast coast, has narrow channel issues and is closely bound by the historic city, while Havana’s port faces serious depth restrictions because of a tunnel under its harbor, he said. The Mariel port, however, does not pose such concerns and could easily be expanded, although some dredging might be needed to accommodate post-Panamax vessels, Brickman said, commenting, “It would be a fairly easy place for a hubbing operation.” A four-lane highway links Mariel’s port with Havana, which lies about 30 miles to its east. Cuban rail lines are the same gauge as those in the United States, which could open possibilities for direct rolling of rail cars off barges onto Cuban tracks, but Brickman noted that current rail lines from Havana end a dozen miles shy of Mariel – and a big mountain lies in between. “Mariel could become an attractive port for cargo from the Far East and so on into Havana,” Brickman said, referring to enhanced prospects following the completion of Panama Canal expansion in 2014. “As far as hubbing into the United States, you could have feeders into the US Southeast.” Comparing benefits of a shipping operation in Cuba with the transshipment hub established in the 1990s by Hutcheson Port Holdings, Ltd. at Freeport, Bahamas, and noting Cuba’s population of more than 11 million, Brickman said, “Cuba could offer something Freeport doesn’t offer, which is a market there as well as ongoing from there.” Indeed, terminal operators already are carefully examining prospects for Cuban hubbing operations, most notably United Arab Emirates-based DP World, which has completed an intensive feasibility study on Mariel. Rodolfo Sabonge, market research and analysis vice president for the Panama Canal Authority, said the canal expansion is likely to open the door for a new Caribbean transshipment center. “Projections call for an additional hub closer to the US East Coast,” Sabonge said. “That could even be a place like Cuba.” Cuban-born Manuel Almira, who currently is executive director of the Port of Palm Beach and has been keeping a close eye on Cuban trade prospects for nearly two decades, including in positions with Sealand and Port Everglades, said he thinks Cuba would be a natural site for a transshipment hub. “Cuba, to me, makes all the sense in world because of its location, not just with the United States but with the Caribbean, especially east-west,” Almira said. Almira said he sees “enormous potential” for South Florida in maritime commerce with Cuba, citing geographical proximity (240 nautical miles from Port Everglades to Havana), cultural ties and “the attraction of Miami that resonates well within Cubans