Obama administration approves first ferry service to Cuba

[webfact]

Obama administration approves first ferry service to Cuba
MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — The Obama administration approved the first ferry service in decades between the United States and Cuba on Tuesday, potentially opening a new path for the hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars in goods that travel between Florida and Havana each year.

Baja Ferries, which operates passenger service in Mexico, said it received a license from the U.S. Treasury Department. Robert Muse, a lawyer for Baja Ferries, said he believed other ferry service petitions had also been approved. The Treasury Department said it could not immediately confirm that, but the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in Florida said approvals also were received by Havana Ferry Partners of Fort Lauderdale, United Caribbean Lines Florida in the Orlando area and Airline Brokers Co. of Miami.

Muse said Baja had yet to request approval from Cuba, but added that he was optimistic the service would allow a significant increase in trade and travel between the two countries.

The Cuban government made no immediate comment on the news and it is far from clear that it is willing or able to allow a major new channel for the movement of goods and people between the two countries.

"I think it's a further indication of the seriousness of the Obama administration in normalizing relations with Cuba," said Muse, an expert on U.S. law on Cuba. "We're now going from the theoretical to the very specific."

Before Cuba's 1959 revolution, ferries ran daily between Florida and Cuba, bringing American tourists to Havana's hotels and casinos and allowing Cubans to take overnight shopping trips to the United States.

That ended with the revolution, and the more than 600,000 people who travel between the U.S. and Cuba each year depend on expensive charter flights. About 80 percent of U.S .travelers to Cuba are Cuban-Americans visiting relatives, and a large number travel with huge amounts of consumer goods unavailable in communist Cuba, from baby clothes to flat-screen TV sets. That cargo has become increasingly expensive and difficult to bring in recent years due to the high prices charged by charters and tightened Cuban customs rules.

Muse said he believed ferries would allow lower-priced passenger and cargo service and provide a potential conduit for new forms of trade allowed by Obama when he announced a series of loopholes in the trade embargo on Cuba late last year. Among other measures, Obama allowed the import of some goods produced by Cuba's new private sector and allowed the virtually unlimited export of products to entrepreneurs.

Ferries also provide a new route for U.S. travelers to Cuba, who also depend on the charter services. Travel from the U.S. has been rising since Obama's Dec. 17 announcement, and new pressure groups are pushing for Congress to end all travel restrictions and allow pure tourism, currently prohibited by law.
____

Andrea Rodriguez contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-05-06

[HeijoshinCool]

Ah, yes, it's all becoming apparent now; more illegal immigrants, mostly criminals.

Shades of Jimmy Carter!

[ggt]

Dang...wish I was 30 years younger,..would ride that ferry on down to Havana and get me some of that young Cuban incurable disease...

[elgordo38]

Ah, yes, it's all becoming apparent now; more illegal immigrants, mostly criminals.

Shades of Jimmy Carter!

Yes they will arrive in the USA first class not in leaky old boats in danger of sinking. No doubt Castro will ship off the criminals rapists and murderers in the first lot. I think that happened years ago when the door was opened a crack to sweep out the riff raff.

[Srikcir]

Dang...wish I was 30 years younger,..would ride that ferry on down to Havana and get me some of that young Cuban incurable disease...

Cuban cigars?

[Srikcir]

Access to tourism in Cuba will give serious challenge to the Bahamas that are only 45 minutes flight from Miami and six times as far. North Americans largely vacation in the Americas as it is. Open access to Cuba will mean its population will probably be outnumbered by 2 to 1 with tourists within a year. Hopefully, the Cuban govenrment will avoid corruption traps and carefully manage the bountiful revenues that will come from tourism to the benefit of Cubans, both exiled and current residents.

[HeijoshinCool]

Guess I won't be able to pay for my Mexico vacations anymore by bringing back Cohibas for friends.

[NeverSure]

Cuba still doesn't allow tourism. It isn't likely to because the small country's communist dictator doesn't want the country exposed to too many Western ideals.

Cuba hasn't agreed to this. There are already daily flights for people who have a need to travel. The idea of using ships instead is to carry cargo as in trade items. Cuba has restricted trade fiercely and that's the reason the populace still drives cars which were built in the 1940's to 1950's.

Most of these cars were imported before the Castro military overthrew the government in a coup in about 1959. The people have been isolated since.

Traffic pictures in Cuba.

Edited May 6, 2015 by NeverSure

[Credo]

Cuba still doesn't allow tourism. It isn't likely to because the small country's communist dictator doesn't want the country exposed to too many Western ideals.

Cuba hasn't agreed to this. There are already daily flights for people who have a need to travel. The idea of using ships instead is to carry cargo as in trade items. Cuba has restricted trade fiercely and that's the reason the populace still drives cars which were built in the 1940's to 1950's.

Most of these cars were imported before the Castro military overthrew the government in a coup in about 1959. The people have been isolated since.

Traffic pictures in Cuba.

Surely you aren't suggesting that all of Cuba's problems aren't because of the USA?

And once all those problems are taken care of, I am sure the USA will be the cause of all future problems.

[puck2]

Cuba still doesn't allow tourism. It isn't likely to because the small country's communist dictator doesn't want the country exposed to too many Western ideals.

Cuba hasn't agreed to this. .........

What a rubbish from an US man with Reb tainted glasses.

A lot of Europeans have spent their holiday in Cuba. It started more than 10 years ago. If you don't believe google. Even the best friends of the US, the Brits, have already an embassy there. From it's embassy website

Actions

• we are working to increase UK exports to Cuba in various areas including machinery, high tech and IT equipment, biotechnology, medical equipment, along with agricultural and food products
• we are supporting UK companies on emerging opportunities in the Cuban market, including in renewable energy and infrastructure
• we are championing the UK as a partner for business and prosperity, and a global leader in renewable energy technologies
• we are supporting the Cuban government’s efforts to beat corruption including by sharing British experience like the UK Bribery Act