PSA to manage a Cuban container terminal

PSA International won a bid to manage the terminal last year and had been in negotiations ever since with Mariel developer Zona de Desarrollo Integral de Mariel, a subsidiary of the military owned Almacenes Universal S.A. The sources said the agreement was to manage the port and did not involve any investment by the company. Mariel Bay is one of Cuba’s finest along the northern coast and the port is destined to replace Havana, the country’s main port, over the coming years. No further details of the deal were available, but the sources said PSA International would now actively participate in planning the terminal, which is scheduled to open by 2014 when larger vessels will begin traversing the Panama Canal, now being expanded.

The Mariel terminal, which will have an initial 700 m (765 yards) of berth, is ideally situated to handle US cargo if the American trade embargo is eventually lifted, and will receive US food exports already flowing into the country under a year 2000 amendment to sanctions. Plans through 2022 call for Mariel to house logistics facilities for offshore oil exploration and development, the container terminal, general cargo and bulk foods facilities and a Special Economic Development Zone for light manufacturing and storage, the sources said.

Brazil has pledged US$800m so far to finance construction of infrastructure and port facilities already under way in conjunction with the Odebrecht group, Brazil’s largest construction and engineering firm. Brazilian Presidential Adviser Marco Aurelio Garcia toured Mariel and met with Cuban President Raul Castro earlier this year, followed in June by former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.