Port Of Miami Director Expresses Fears Over Cuba's Mariel (competition for biz)

[Mika]

Port Of Miami Director Expresses Fears Over Cuba's Mariel
Investments, Improvements Could Mean More Competition
http://www.local10.com/news/15875315/detail.html

MIAMI -- The Port of Miami, Miami-Dade County's second largest provider of jobs and income, may face stiff competition from Cuba, according to the port's director.

In a briefing to Miami-Dade commissioners last week, Bill Johnson said investments and improvements scheduled for Cuba's Port of Mariel should pose a concern.

"Competition today is already significant outside U.S. borders on the cargo side," Johnson told Local 10's Glenna Milberg.

DWP plans to develop the Port of Mariel as a major cargo shipping hub.

"We've been told it could be a quarter-billion dollar improvement at the Port of Mariel for cargo, and that's of great concern," said Johnson. "If it goes forward, the anticipated completion date is 2012, and that's right around the corner."

The Port of Mariel, about 30 miles west of Havana on Cuba's north coast, was used as a missile base during the 1960s, when Cuba was an ally of the Soviet Union. Two decades later, Fidel Castro opened the port to let more than 100,000 refugees sail for South Florida.

At least one Cuba analyst at the University of Miami's Institute For Cuban and Cuban American studies downplayed concerns of economic competition from the Port of Mariel or any entity in communist Cuba.

"A ship that docks in a Cuban port cannot dock in a U.S. port for six months," said Dr. Jose Azel, citing a stipulation of the Toricelli and Helms-Burton bills that mandate sanctions against the Castro government. "We'd have to see a complete relaxation of that for the economics to make sense," he said.

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Now this is interesting. God forbid Cuba should find a way to increase its commerce after all the

trouble certain people in the States have gone to in order to destroy it altogether!

Port Director Johnson might want to consider lobbying to remove the embargo, then, so ships can both go to Cuba AND come to the U.S. without waiting for 6 months.

[Mika]

2. Great points. But, as you know, hating Cuba takes precedence over jobs and trade.

After all, how many billions of dollars of lost trade has the US trade embargo screwed the US farm belt for? Now for almost 50 years.

Instead, we get this,




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