The Port of Mobile Sees Bondage with Cuba’s Mariel in the Near Future
The 34th edition of the Havana International Fair has given Maria Conchita Méndez the chance to come to Cuba once again, though she’s been visiting the island nation since 2001 for business purposes.
She’s the director of Latin America Sales & Trade Development for the Alabama State Port Authority and is also tasked with running the port of Mobile, a seaport that before the United States imposed the embargo on Cuba in the early sixties, boasted strong trade connections with the island nation. Both sides suffered when those connections were cut.
But following the thaw in relations between the U.S. and Cuba announced in December 2014, those ties are being rekindled now.
“Mobile is currently shipping poultry to Cuba and serving carriers that call the seaport before sailing down to Cuba and going back to the U.S. without any problem, especially now that the 180-day ban on vessels visiting Cuba has been lifted,” Mrs. Méndez told Caribbean News Digital.
“Despite all the hoopla and optimism going on in the U.S., we do see Cuba as a great potential and a great economic engine,” she said. As to a possible direct link between the ports of Mobile and Cuba’s Mariel for cargo shipping operations, Mrs. Mendez believes “that’s going to happen for sure in the near future.”
