Cuban Ports

8/8/2019 Cuban Ports

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Introduction:

Cuba’s economy fully depends on foreign trade and this isn’t likely tochange in several years. This makes Cuban ports a major concern to

Cuba’s government and citizen.It’s important to know that Cuba believes that their major source ofgrowth could be not because of cargo shipment, but because of cruisepassengers.

During the 80’s Cuba lived a golden age when we refer to port usage.But now the country's ports fell to just 3mn tones in 2008, from about12mn a year in the 1980s.

The island's largest port, Havana, has a capacity of 1.2mn tones buthandles just 600,000-700,000 tones a year



Principal Ports

There are 3 principal ports in Cuba:a) Havana Port: Is the largest and most important port in

Cuba. Key component of Cuba’s economic developing.Havana port can handle a wide range of cargo and cruisepassengers. The harbor offers 41 berths. The cruise

terminal has 6 of those berths.b) Santiago de Cuba Port: This port is the second largestport. It has a entrance channel ok 80 meters. The porthas a capacity to operate 13 vessels simultaneously. Thisport can also receive cruises.

c) Cienfuegos port: Third in importance in Cuba. It is the

marketing and processing center of one of the mostproductive regions in Cuba. There is movement of rum,fish canneries sugarcane, tobacco, coffee and rice. Thereis land for future development. There are no cruiseterminals here.





History of port concessions

In Cuba the first concession was approved in 1998. It wasa joint venture between Cubanco, S.A. (Cuban company)and Silares Terminales del Caribe (Italian company). Thepurpose of this venture was to operate the terminals ofHavana port, Santiago de Cuba and Punta Frances.

The executive council of ministers gave the exclusiveconcession to operate several ports and give the maritimeservices for 20 years with the option of 20 years more.(This joint venture operated Havana Port)

In 2005 the concession was removed supposedlybecause these companies were not following the Cuban

rules. The concession was then granted to a firm of theministry of transportation, Aries Transporte S.A.



How are ports managed in Cuba?

The organ that is in charge of ports in Cuba is the “AsociacionPortuaria Nacional” (APN) and the decrees that rule the portconcessions are: Decreto-ley 230 de puertos (law of ports) Decreto numero 274 (regulation if ports) Resolucion numero 213/96 (classification of ports)

From decreto-ley 230 we know that the concessions are given tothe “executive committee of the councils of ministers”. Once theexecutive committee has reviewed the documentation, whichincludes the proposals, it is passed to the APN and to theministry of transportation which make their recommendations.Once they have examined it the documentation is returned tothe executive committee and the concession is then eitherapproved or denied by them. The process can’t last more thansixty natural days.



Considerations

Why have there only being involvementof European firms in the concessions?

A= Because the USA embargo and what

happened in 9/11.



Mariel Port

Mariel Port is placed at 50 km. from Havana in a Northwestdirection. This port is historical because the famous Marielboatlift event happened here in this port.

Mariel lift: Fidel Castro permitted any person who wanted toleave Cuba free access to depart from the port of Mariel. Boatswith Cuban migrants began departing Mariel, Cuba, in April,

1980 after Castro declared the port of Mariel "open." Hundredsof small craft departed Miami and sailed to Mariel, where theyloaded up with refugees, in most cases more than the craft wasdesigned to carry safely, and then attempted to return to Miami.

Although it is a port with a good location, the limited berthingdepths at Cuban ports have exacerbated the country's tradedecline as they restrict the size of vessels able to dock.Shippers have tended to favour importing from neighbouringCaribbean states such as Jamaica and the Dominican Republic,which offer a more efficient port system.



Mariel Port

Recently this port has become the major point of attention inwhat comes to ports in Cuba because of a 450 million dollarremodeling that is being done by Odebrecht.

Odebrecht is a major Brazilian construction and engineeringcompany. The Brazilian company operates jointly with theCuban Ministry of Construction.

The Brazilian infrastructure company is already engaged in thebuilding and renovation of roads, railways and the dredging ofthe channel into the future terminal that according to plans willhave a movement capacity of one million containers per year.The project will supposedly be over in 10 years from now.

It’s important to say that the project is being fund by the

Brazilian government, apparently in its totality. It seems thatLula is impressively committed with this port. Since there is notmuch economical benefit to Brazil the analyst have said thatthis is mostly to reassure Brazilian image as regional leader(kind of a big brother).



Mariel Port

The project is being financed throughthe brazilian Banco Nacional deDesarrollo (BNDS).



Havana port

In 1998, Cuba’s government gave the concession for themanagement, loading and unloading of the cargo to the firm“Terminal de Contenedores de La Habana”(TCH).

This company is formed by both, private and public capital. It’scomposed by capital from APN, the Ministry of Transportation,Grupo Acemex and the spanish company Grupo Espanol Perez

(grupo TCB) de terminal de contenidors de Barcelona. TCH was inaugurated in year 2000, but has really operate since

1998. Since there are no public tenders considered in Cuban law,

although there is consideration for concessions, the companywas contracted through an administrative concession (processof which we already talked about).

Since then the results this concession has given are very good.in 1998 it operated 93 k containers per year; in 1999, 123 k; in2000 it closed with 180 k, and in 2001 it operated 210 mil. (verysuccesful)



Havana port

TCH is rendering services to some of the most importantinternational shipping companies, such as CMA-CGM, CrowleyLiner Services, Costa Container Lines, ZIM, Holland Maas, aswell as the Cuban flag shipping companies.

TCH main services are:

Loading/Unloading of containers from/to shipDelivery/reception of containers from/to truckStuffing / Unstuffing of containersConnection and monitoring of reefer containers

Container storageDelivery/reception of general cargoStorage of general cargo



Havana port (ACEMEX)

Grupo ACEMEX (a Gilmar Project Finance Establishmentcompany with dutch capital) has actively participated inCuba’s financial sector development. Founded in 1974 asa group of financial companies that specialize in shippingand financial activities, Grupo ACEMEX’s scope of activities has gradually been expanded to meet thegrowing demands of the recovering economy. Among theservices provided by Grupo ACEMEX’s financinginstitutions are providing credit for prefinancing and short-term financing, engaging in factoring and leasingagreements, as well as managing the financial activities ofthe Group’s private companies. Since its creation, “the

ACEMEX Group has arranged credits for its clientsamounting to $612.0 million, of which approximately $89.0million were directly provided by its financing institution.”



Havana port (Grupo TCB)

Grup TCB is Spain’s leading operator of portterminals. Its ampleexperience (dating back as far as 1972) and specialization in containerized as well as in general cargohandling certifies this leadership and its every time biggerpresence in other ports of the world-wide geography.

Its international expansion during the last yearscoincided with its strategic vision not only for themanagement of terminals, but also for the provisionof know-how in the start-up and maintenance of

multipurpose facilities in general.This activity of consultancy includes all the technicalprocesses, from the initial infrastructure configuration tothe final implementation of equipment as well as EDPsolutions.

Cuban Ports

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