By Doreen Hemlock. Sun-Sentinel. Web-posted: 9:34 p.m. Feb.
27, 2001
Just months after easing U.S. food and medicine sales to Cuba, Washington
has granted its first license for a shipping company to offer scheduled routes
to the communist-led island.
Jacksonville-based Crowley Liner Services confirmed Tuesday it received
a U.S. Treasury Department license to serve Cuba.
The company would add Havana to a weekly route linking Port Everglades in
Broward County with Jacksonville and ports in southern Mexico. Service is
expected to start as soon as April, said the latest newsletter from U.S.-Cuba
Trade and Economic Council Inc., a not-for-profit group that monitors business
in Cuba.
The shipping license comes as U.S. companies await regulations due out
this week on an October law easing the nearly 40-year-old U.S. embargo against
Cuba. The law lets U.S. firms sell food and medicines but still imposes tough
conditions, including a ban on any U.S. government or private financing for the
exports.
Many U.S. farm groups seek more liberal terms for sales, noting rivals
have more access to Cuba's $1 billion-a-year food market.
Just how much U.S.-Cuba trade will actually result from the new law
depends partly on details in this week's regulations, but analysts say U.S.
shipping companies are lining up to meet potential demand.
"Crowley is not going to be the last one to get a shipping license.
Other companies have applied, and more are in the process," said John S.
Kavulich II, president of the New York-based council.
At least two U.S. food companies also have received licenses so far to
sell to Cuba, the council said, declining to disclose names.
While food sales and shipping now are legal, there's still political
controversy over the trade with Havana. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said
Tuesday that the Bush administration won't support "a lot of changes"
beyond last year's law to ease food sales to Cuba.
President Bush said during his campaign that he would not change U.S.
policy toward the island, unless the communist regime held free elections and
released political prisoners.
Some companies in South Florida also refuse to enter Cuba's market of 11
million people today, concerned with possible reprisals from Cuban-Americans who
see trade as propping up Castro's regime.
"We'd only do business with a free Cuba, without Castro," said
Robert Unanue, president of Goya Foods of Florida, a unit of the largest
U.S.-based Hispanic foods company. "We have loyal customers in the U.S.,
and we have to respect their opinions too."
On Tuesday, Crowley declined to offer or confirm details of its Cuba
plans, citing "competitive reasons." Executives seemed to downplay the
pioneering license, noting that U.S. airlines already have similar approvals to
provide charter flights to the island.
However, details abounded in the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council
newsletter. It said Crowley estimates some 60 of its current customers already
have or plan to apply for U.S. licenses to sell food to Cuba, mostly to ship
refrigerated poultry and dairy products.
Crowley estimates it needs to haul 16 to 17 freight containers to Havana
weekly to break even on service from Florida. If volumes fall short, it could
take Cuba-bound cargo as far as Mexico and then send it by Cuban or European
carriers onto Havana, said the newsletter.
Most U.S. companies now authorized to do business with Cuba, such as
publishing companies that sell magazines, ship goods through third countries
such as Mexico or on U.S. charter flights.
Maritime trade had been tough, because a 1992 U.S. law banned ships that
call in Cuba from docking in U.S. ports for 180 days -- unless they had a U.S.
government license, such as Crowley's.
Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or
305-810-5009. | 