Balearia

Balearia Group is a Spanish shipping company specialising in passenger transportation with activities in Europe, Africa and North America.

As their name suggests, Balearia have for many years focused on connecting the Balearic Islands of Spain to each other in addition to providing regular services across the Strait of Gibraltar which is the main connecting point between Europe and Africa. More recently Balearia launched services in the Caribbean under the Bahamas Express brand connecting Florida with the Bahamas.

Having operated a crossing in the Caribbean region since 2011 connecting Port Everglades of Fort Lauderdale and Freeport on Grand Bahama Island, Balearia are well established in the area and in a great position to operate a Cuba ferry service.

Proposed service

Balearia were granted a license to operate a ferry service between the U.S. and Cuba in July 2015 and are planning to run two services connecting Florida with Havana port.

One is likely to be a high speed ferry service from Key West, the closest port to Cuba with a crossing time expected to be around three hours using a ferry already known to the area – Pinar del Rio. The fast ferry has all the certificates required by the U.S. Coast Guard to start and would be ideal for the crossing to Cuba.

The second line, like Balearia’s existing Caribbean ferry service would operate from Port Everglades using a conventional ferry with a travel time expected to be around 10 hours.