Port Partnerships: Alabama/Cuba
Alabama State Port Authority Cuban Ports Sign Memorandum of Understanding
The Alabama State Port Authority on February 2 joined the National Port Administration of Cuba in signing a five-year cooperative agreement at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel in Florida.
In signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), James K. Lyons, chief executive of the Alabama State Port Authority and Rene Rolando Fernandez de Lara Cabezas, director of Inland Waterway and Sea Transport in the Cuban Ministry of Transportation, acknowledged mutual interest in facilitating trade growth and promoting all water carrier services between Asia, Europe, Latin America and the U.S. Gulf Coast.
"We are seeing increasing demand for normalized trade between the United States and Cuba, and it is our goal to foster relationships between the ports and their maritime communities to further changes in U.S. Cuban trade policy and facilitate improved ocean carriage services to the benefit of our shippers," said Mr. Lyons.
U.S. sanctioned trade between Alabama and Cuba currently consists principally of poultry and forest products. Under the MOU, the two port agencies commit to collaborating in port and cargo marketing studies and strategies, engaging in promotion and exhibition activities, and sharing data to their mutual benefit as allowed under governing law in both countries.
In October 2016, the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) eased the rule that prohibits a vessel that calls Cuba from entering a U.S. port within 180 days of its departure from Cuba. While the amendment may allow vessel operators to efficiently deploy their vessels and avoid the 180-day waiting period, ocean carriers must nonetheless comply with all other U.S. restrictions in order to take advantage of the amended rule.
In addition, ships originating from worldwide ports and transiting through Cuba can take advantage of the waiver as long as the carrier does not load non-sanctioned cargoes bound for the United States. Currently, ZIM Integrated Shipping Ltd provides bookings between the ports of Mobile and Mariel.
Rene Rolando Fernandez de Lara Cabezas (left), director of Inland Waterway and Sea Transport, of the Republic of Cuba Ministry of Transportation and James K. Lyons, Chief Executive Officer for the Alabama State Port Authority shake hands during the cooperative agreement signing in Tampa
Photo/Alabama State Port Authority