Bus company interested in Mariel manufacturing zone

Bus company interested in Mariel manufacturing zone



CUBA STANDARD — Brazilian bus manufacturer Marcopolo may be interested

in using the Mariel special development zone (ZDE) for an assembly

operation, Cuba's trade attaché in Panama told Boletín Panamá in August.



Separately, without mentioning potential locations, the head of

Brazilian trade promotion agency Apex said last year that Marcopolo

wants to open a manufacturing plant in Cuba. Marcopolo executives last

fall met with executives of state company Caisa, the potential Cuban

counterpart in a joint venture, according to the Apex executive.



Companies such as Marcopolo "are interested in using the Cuban

workforce, because they already have experience with assembly line work,

in addition to technical knowledge," said trade attaché Yanni Solano,

according to Boletín Panamá.

Marcopolo, which did not respond to Cuba Standard inquiries, has

assembly operations in Mexico and Colombia; Brazilian competitor Busscar

has been assembling microbuses in Cuba since the 1990s.



This is the second mention of a Brazilian company that may want to

operate at the Mariel ZDE. The first Brazilian company that has

committed to set up shop in the zone is São Paulo-based Fanavid S.A.The

glassmaker will open a manufacturing facility to supply Cuba, Brazil and

the Caribbean region with architectural glass, a Foreign Ministry

spokesman in Brazil said last year.



The port of Mariel, 30 miles east of Havana, is undergoing a $950

million expansion that will make it one of the largest container hubs in

the Caribbean with a capacity of up to 1 million containers, eventually

replacing cargo operations at the Port of Havana. Next to the new

container hub is the Mariel Integrated Development Zone (ZDIM). The ZDIM

is part of Cuba's planned free-trade zones (ZDE), allowing companies to

benefit from less red tape, simplified customs procedures, and a highly

skilled Cuban workforce. The ZDE are part of a government effort to

convince foreign investors to produce high value-added goods and

services for export in Cuba. ZDIM S.A. is operated by a subsidiary of

GAESA, the Cuban armed forces' holding company.



To establish the free-trade zones, Cuba must change its foreign

investment law. The Brazilian government said last year it was assisting

Cuba in the creation of a legal framework for the special development

zones; no new regulations have been published yet.



"We have a lot of interest in cooperating in the definition of this

model, in order to bring in the biggest possible number of Brazilian

companies," Brazil's Foreign Trade Minister Fernando Pimentel said last

year while touring the construction site.



Cuban Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca said

during the Mariel tour with Pimentel that his country is interested in

"more integration" between Cuban and Brazilian companies, according to

the Brazilian ministry of development, industry and foreign trade. "We

are offering technology transfer in exchange for investment in plants,

and Mariel could serve this purpose," Malmierca said, according to a

press release by the Brazilian ministry.



Brazil's Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) is

financing 85 percent of the port project, including the ZDE, with Cuba

funding the remaining 15 percent, according to the Brazilian government.

Brazilian construction giant Grupo Odebrecht is in charge of the

execution; Brazilian companies are providing practically all supplies

and services for the project.



Meanwhile, official daily Granma on Sept. 3 quoted a Brazilian diplomat

in Havana saying that President Dilma Rousseff is expected to visit Cuba

for the official opening of the port. A first segment of the port is

expected to be completed in December, but full operations aren't

expected until 2014.



This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013 at 2:43 pm



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