By TED JACKOVICS | The Tampa Tribune
Published: November 17, 2011
TAMPA --
Prospects for significant trade involving the Port of Tampa remain tied
largely to political changes in the trade embargo and supply and demand
for goods that Florida ports would handle, a panel of academic and
business officials agreed Wednesday.
About 75 local business people attended a Cuba forum sponsored by the
Tampa Port Authority that drew two noted panelists on Cuban economics, a
senior official of Crowley Liner Services and an Orlando businessman
with plans for ferry service between Tampa and Mexico and Cuba.
"We certainly see opportunities in Cuba," Tampa port director Richard
Wainio said, emphasizing that largely depends on the lifting of the U.S.
trade embargo that restricts U.S. shipments to Cuba, only 3 percent of
which are handled by Florida ports.
Tampa is likely to serve ships that call on Cuba and additional ports in
Latin America and Gulf Coast ports such as Houston and Mobile, Wainio said.
Tampa's port also is likely to serve ships that will use Cuba as a hub
for "trans-shipments", from new or improved Cuban ports envisioned to
serve as cargo hubs for international trade.
The change announced earlier this month by Raul Castro establishing a
real estate market by allowing people to buy and sell their homes,
prospects for oil discoveries off the north coast of Cuba and Raul
Castro's focus on economic reforms have created a new outlook, said
Anthony Zamora an attorney and law professor at Florida International
University.
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