President Barack Obama’s surprise announcement last month that he was reestablishing diplomatic relations with Cuba could mean a boost for many industries, especially tourism. But the materials handling industry may also benefit from apparent thaw between the US and its island neighbor to the south.
Benefits to Material Handling Firms
One materials handling firm — Hytrol Conveyor Company, of Jonesboro, Arkansas — is already chomping at the bit at the thought of selling its products to Cuban manufacturers. Last week, the company issued a news release hailing the president’s decision and predicting a huge positive impact for the materials handling industry.
“Material handling organizations poised to serve this new market located just 90 miles off the coast of South Florida are going to see significant financial gains,” the company news release stated. “Proximity matters. Flying in a variety of conveyor systems and dozens of strategic integration partners means that companies like Hytrol are uniquely poised to fulfill the market demand of the Cuban economy.”
‘Not So Fast’
But other observers are saying “Hold your horses.” Its too early to start making plans to set up shop in Cuba.
Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, a professor of economics at Florida International University’s School of International and Public Affairs, warned that just because the president has opened the door a crack, it doesn’t mean that trade will flow freely through it anytime soon.
“This is not the end of the story,” Salazar-Carrillo said. “It’ going to be a tough go with Congress., I see it playing out slowly in coming months.”
The president’s action authorizes trade with a private companies in Cuba that work in a handful of industries, including building materials for private homes, goods for entrepreneurs, and farm equipment for small farmers.
Meanwhile, other businesses that could benefit should the US resume full trade with Cuba include the automobile, health care, and educational supplies industries.
A 50+ Year Chill
Cuba has been a Communist country since the 1959, when Fidel Castro and his allies toppled the government of longtime Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Since then, the island nation has been relatively cloistered from the outside world, largely due to the trade embargo implemented by US President John F. Kennedy.
For the past 55 years, time has effectively stood still for many Cubans who have not been able to buy US goods or travel outside their home country freely. Many of the cars still operating on the streets of Havana, Cuba’s capitol city, were manufactured during the Eisenhower administration.
But a combination of the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the 1991 — which had been one of Cuba’s strongest supporters — and Fidel Castro’s failing health has caused the attitudes of many people in Cuba to once again warm towards a renewed relationship with the US, its leading trading partner for more than a century.
With the assistance of Pope Francis — an Argentinean who is the first pope to come from a Latin American country — President Obama announced December 17 his decision to reopen diplomatic relations with Cuba.