As Cuba trade beckons, U.S. ports jostle to become the gateway

As Cuba trade beckons, U.S. ports jostle to become the gateway
BY TIM JOHNSON
McClatchy Foreign Staff

As U.S.-Cuban relations emerge from a deep freeze, U.S. port cities
desiring to become gateways to the island are jostling for advantage.

Leading the pack is Tampa, Fla., home to the second-largest
Cuban-American population in the United States. But port cities like
Mobile, Ala., New Orleans and Houston are not sitting still.

Business leaders in Tampa visited Havana for four days last month,
touting their city's historical ties to Cuba and positioning the city to
become the "new Miami," which for half a century has been the de facto
capital of Cuban exiles.

"Before Miami was even a fishing village, there was trade between Tampa
and Havana," said Ronald A. Christaldi, an attorney who is chairman of
the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

Sparking the commotion among U.S. ports was the announcement Dec. 17 by
Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro that the United States and Cuba
would move to re-establish diplomatic relations after more than five
decades of tension. Cuba was removed from the U.S. list of state
sponsors of terrorism on Friday, and diplomats from the two countries
are negotiating an agreement to reopen embassies.

A U.S. trade embargo remains in effect and can only be lifted by
Congress, leaving some people to think the intense interest by U.S. port
cities over potential trade with Cuba is premature. The Cuban market
will remain small for years.

"You're talking about an island with the population of Pennsylvania and
they are bankrupt," said Richard Wainio, the former director of the Port
of Tampa and a onetime Panama Canal executive. U.S. port cities are
"hugely overenthusiastic. . . . There's nothing of significance to
trade, unless you sell frozen chicken or grain."

But others say that they are taking a longer view, aware that it could
take years for U.S. laws to change and even longer for a middle class to
develop in Cuba that would power growth. Once that occurs, however, Cuba
will have an intense appetite for building materials, technology, health
care equipment and other goods, they say.

Tampa says it earned the mantle as gateway to Cuba in the late 1800s.

It was in 1886 when a Cuban immigrant, Vicente Martínez Ybor, opened the
first cigar factory in Tampa, and Tampa's Ybor City area still retains
brick factories and Cuban eateries. Charismatic Cuban national hero José
Martí raised a million dollars from cigar workers in Ybor City in 1893
to finance Cuba's independence drive.

The José Martí Park in Tampa is still owned by the Cuban government.

When Teddy Roosevelt prepared to lead the cavalry unit known as the
Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, they gathered in Tampa in
June 1898 before boarding the ship Yucatan and sailing toward Cuba.

Even as the contours of future U.S.-Cuban relations remain blurry, Tampa
says it wants to play a leading role.

"Whatever is allowed by law, we want to jump in and take advantage of,"
said Bob Rohrlack, president of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce
and a leader of more than 30 Tampa business representatives who visited
Havana May 12-16. He spoke to a reporter in the garden area behind
Havana's iconic Hotel Nacional.

Tampa business leaders distance themselves from the entrenched
antagonism in Miami toward Cuba's socialist government, rooted among
exiles who lost property and saw families torn apart following the 1959
Cuban Revolution.

"The large Cuban population in Tampa is of a different mindset,"
Christaldi said, noting recent actions by its elected leaders.

Tampa City Council members passed a resolution April 16 urging the White
House to choose Tampa as a location should the U.S. and Cuba sign any
agreement on American soil that would normalize relations between the
countries.

The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce also passed a unanimous resolution
calling on Cuba to re-establish a consulate in Tampa, where it
maintained a presence until the United States broke off relations with
Cuba on Jan. 3, 1961.

"They can take advantage of political reluctance in Miami," said
Johannes Werner, editor of cubastandard.com, an online information
service on business in Cuba. Werner operates out of Sarasota, Fla.

Other Gulf of Mexico ports are polishing trade ties with Cuba, which saw
some rejuvenation starting in late 2001 when the administration of
President George W. Bush eased the trade embargo to permit U.S.
companies to export agricultural goods to the island for humanitarian
purposes.

Executives from the Port of Houston are hoping to visit Havana soon to
display their continued interest in boosting trade with the island.

"All we're trying to do is be ready for the day when the laws change,"
said Ricky W. Kunz, managing director of trade, development and
marketing for the port.

"Forget the fact that (the Cubans) are cash-strapped right now," Kunz
said. "Once trade opens, there'll be various organizations that will be
quick to loan them money."

New Orleans also claims historical ties with Cuba and a distribution
network up and down the Mississippi River system critical to the export
of grain.

"Prior to the embargo, the largest trading partner with Cuba was the
Port of New Orleans," said its port director, Gary LaGrange.

LaGrange said the U.S. laws and regulations that enforce the embargo
won't be lifted quickly, nor will Cuba be in a position to buy much for
some time.

"It's not going to be a light switch flipping overnight," LaGrange said.
"It will take some time for Cuba to get a middle class established."

But once the U.S. embargo is lifted, New Orleans could feel an immediate
impact, he said. Within the first five years, LaGrange said, analysts
believe the city will add 7,000 to 12,000 jobs ranging from dockworkers
and customhouse brokers to railway crews, truck drivers and freight
forwarders.

LaGrange said New Orleans, with its easy access to grain belt states and
to the U.S. energy sector, could be complementary to Tampa, which offers
construction materials that Cuba might one day need.

"I see it almost as a tossup, if you will, between Tampa and New
Orleans," LaGrange said. "Their market area and ours are totally
different. I see us almost more as allies."

Email: tjohnson@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @timjohnson4

Source: As Cuba trade beckons, U.S. ports jostle to become the gateway |
Miami Herald Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article23023671.html