Tampa's newest market: Cuba [View All]

[Say_What]

Jeb must be catching plenty of flack from the anti-Cuba fanatics in South Florida--plenty of Florida businesses are jumping on board the "play your politics a$$holes, we're moving ahead away" wagon.

At the recenttHavana International Fair, out of 47 US companies, Florida had more companies there than any of the other 20 something states who attended. Drip, drip, drip.

<clips>

The first cargo ship to leave Tampa for Cuba in decades is scheduled to depart today. Its owners hope for monthly trips.

TAMPA - The 225-foot H.L. Sahlman usually attracts little notice at Tampa's port as it picks up small loads of meat and fresh produce for customers in the eastern Caribbean and South America.

But the tiny freighter was the center of attention Thursday as a crane lifted carton after carton of frozen chicken on board for a high-profile destination: the capital of Fidel Castro's Cuba.

The vessel, scheduled to leave today, will be the first to depart a public dock in Tampa for Cuba in more than four decades. And the ship's owners are prepared to make monthly trips between Tampa and Havana if they can attract enough cargo business to support it.

<http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/14/Business/Tampa_s_newest_market.shtml>