PSA to Operate New Cuban Container Terminal

Singapore terminal operator PSA International said Friday it will manage a new container terminal in Cuba, currently under construction in the port of Mariel on the island’s northern coast.

"PSA has signed a contract with Terminal de Contenedores de Mariel S.A. to manage a new container terminal to be constructed at Mariel Bay," a spokesman told Reuters. He declined to provide further details.

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The Brazilian construction company Grupo Odebrecht is building the new terminal with the help of a $300 million loan from the Brazilian government.

PSA International won a tender last year and had been in negotiations since then with the Terminal de Contenedores, a subsidiary of the Cuban military firm Universal SA Stores.

PSA will actively participate in planning the terminal, which is scheduled to open by 2014 when the Panama Canal Authority completes a third set of larger locks that will enable passage by container ships with capacities of up to 12,500 20-foot equivalent units, or more than twice the capacity of the current Panamax ships of 4,800 TEUs.

The terminal is part of a larger scheme to develop Mariel Bay, 28 miles west of Havana, into the Cuba's most important cargo hub and center for light manufacturing.

PSA, the world’s second-largest terminal operator with 29 terminals in 17 countries, is owned by Temasek, the Singapore government’s sovereign wealth fund.

-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @petertleach.