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Miami Readies Itself for Daily Ferries to Cuba
Date: 16 Feb 2016 16:20
Such is the interest in Ferries to Cuba, that PortMiami is looking into a way to construct temporary terminals to provide keen ferry operators the possibility to begin daily, overnight sailings to Havana.
PortMiami has been leaning on The City of Miami for nearly a year, pushing for the ferry service to be introduced. The consensus amongst ferry industry experts seems to acknowledge the fact that a Miami- Havana ferry route will be in high demand. Not least by the significant Cuban-American population but also potentially paving the road for hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of consumer goods that would exchange hands between Cuba and the USA.
The interest has reached an all-time high, forcing port officials to call a meeting and set up the hypothetical scenario of a ‘March 2016’ start date. Laying out this scenario, they were able to discuss with the federal Customs and Border Protection bureau the necessary requirements for cargo and passengers on ferries between Cuba & Florida.
CMA CGM, the world’s third largest container company, petitioned Miami-Dade to buy floating pontoon ramps to swiftly have the infrastructure in place for the Cuba – Florida route. This lead to the city of Miami contracting an engineering firm to analyse and study the options of how to proceed. However, unlike the cruise lines who already have a head start with all the necessary infrastructure in place, the ferry companies need to work through all the red tape to get city and county approval to build the necessary infrastructure. Maybe with the weight of a shipping giant behind them, the ferry infrastructure in Miami will get pushed through even sooner than previously projected.
Cuba Outstretches Hand for FDI
Date: 29 November 2016
The leader of the Cuban Revolution is dead. Now all the backlog of change, 50 years’ worth of it, can slowly start. Until he passed the baton to his brother Raul Castro (2008), Cuba had resisted change for almost half a century. After Raul took over, the country started changing slowly but surely. The automatic ‘no’ answers, to anything and everything that involved change, became ‘maybes’ and ‘under certain conditions’. This gave way to laws that permitted private businesses and private property, previously outlawed in Cuba.
Business to Trump Politics in Cuba
Date: 22 November 2016
A collection of big multi-nationals who started planning for life after the embargo will attempt to pander to president-elect Trump’s self-proclaimed superior business acumen. Dozens of companies are either planning to, or have started expanding into Cuba already. Trump threatened to shut the doors on the newly re-opened American embassy in Havana, as well as flirting with reverting to previous Cold War economic relations and travel agreements. However, the Chamber of Commerce will be pushing to maintain the current status quo after Obama’s reform created loads of promising commercial prospects. The strategy is trying to pull at strings that are key pieces to the Trump persona. If an opportunity makes good business sense, then why would a proficient businessman turn it down?
Spanish Businessmen Hurry Up their Plans for Cuba
Date: 16 November 2016
Spanish businessmen with pending plans for the island have made no attempt to hide their fear that the first mover’s advantage benefits of certain big American companies could create barriers that will make their entry into the market more difficult. Even though, stateside, the fear is that the politics will revert to the times before the Obama rapprochement two years ago.
New Presidential Directive Working Already
Date: 07 November 2016
The new Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) is working already. The PPD, which was enacted last month, is the latest in a course of events in the Cuban Thaw that, through executive action, loosened travel and trade to Cuba. It allows for the import of Cuban medicines to the USA. CIMAvax, an encouraging lung-cancer vaccine, will soon commence Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clinical trials in the USA. As of today, never before has a Cuban drug been run in clinical trials in the USA. At first glance, the shipment of delicate cargo seemed a precarious obstacle. However, after a successful test run to ensure the delicate cargo would arrive intact, shipping a box of water, it seems that the USA are ready to receive the delicate cargo.
TripAdvisor Awarded Permit Allowing Bookings to Cuba
Date: 31 October 2016
TripAdvisor has become one of the inaugural American companies given permission by the US government to sell “travel-related services” to Cuba bound travelers worldwide. The US Treasury Department’s license grants TripAdvisor permission to stimulate and support “educational and cultural engagement between global travelers and the Cuban people.”
US Abstains in UN Vote Against Embargo
Date: 27 October 2016
On Wednesday, October 26th, the United States took another massive step towards ending the Cuban Embargo. The US changed its vote from ‘in favor’ to ‘abstain’ for the UN General Assembly’s resolution for an end to the embargo. This marks the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the US has not voted in favor to maintaining the embargo. Normally, several smaller nations vote in line with the USA. However, this time, of the 193 UN member countries, 191 voted against the embargo with just Israel siding with the USA in abstention and nobody opposing the reform.
Why is US Rapprochement with Cuba Nearly Irreversible Now?
Date: 20 October 2016
As time ticks down on President Obama’s tenure in office, he has yet again pushed the envelope in the Cuban Thaw. In what has become one of the most significant developments in American foreign policy in the last half century, Obama has, in a new directive, urged for a policy of “positive engagement as opposed to perpetual hostility” as the future of American-Cuban relations, in a bid to make the rapprochement “irreversible”.
Baleària Proposes Re-Establishment of Domestic Ferry Routes
Date: 14 October 2016
The President of Baleària, Adoldo Utor, has offered to assist in re-establishing an internal ferry route network in Cuba. This comes after a recent trip to the island to discuss plans, as mentioned in our previous article, for Baleària to be the first ferry company to operate the crossing from Miami and Cuba.
"We Want to be the First"
Date: 20 September 2016
Adolfo Utor, the President of Spanish shipping and ferry company, Baleària, has stated his intention to become the first ferry company to operate the sailing across the Florida Strait to Cuba in over 50 years.
Eight US airliners will fly to Cuba
Date: 07 September 2016
What was already known a couple of months ago has been confirmed and now improved. As the total number of carriers has now risen to eight, rather than the six that were initially given approval. Direct commercial flights will begin this month.