Tampa becomes Puerto Rican port of call

It looks like a symbiotic relationship — the Port of Tampa is eager to help export more U.S. goods and the Puerto Rican Chamber is hoping to import more of its native country’s goods.

Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder, president and chief executive officer of the chamber based in Sarasota, is excited about opening new doors for small businesses in Puerto Rico that want access to the U.S. market. She also is working with local companies in Manatee, Sarasota and the rest of Florida that want to develop a trade relationship with Puerto Rico.

To foster those relationships, a “business matching” event is being held May 5, 6 and 7 at the port and the Doubletree Hotel in Tampa where representatives of 25 Puerto Rican businesses will be there as part of the Reaching Across the Oceans trade mission.

“These are small companies who have never had the opportunity to export their products,” Cuevas-Neunder said.

Meeting them will be representatives of Florida grocery stores and restaurants, who want to learn more about products from Puerto Rico and how they can enhance their businesses.

The first step in improving trade to and from Puerto Rico to the Tampa Bay area occurred in October when the ocean shipping company Horizon Lines added the Tampa port to its shipping service, stopping at the port every other week to pick up goods to ship to Puerto Rico and then return.

“Horizon had been sailing from Houston to San Juan and now they’ve added Tampa as an in between stop,” said Wade Elliott, senior director of marketing at the Tampa Port Authority. “Before you only had the choice of trucking a container to Jacksonville and shipping from there. This is much more convenient for the west and central Florida market.”

The added vessel service will mean more business for the port and, Cuevas-Neunder hopes, more business for Puerto Rico and local businesses.

Elliott said adding the extra container service is part of the port’s container expansion plans. The port recently extended its container section from 25 to 40 acres, with plans to go up to 160 acres over the next three to five years, he said.

Cuevas-Neunder traveled to her native country in January to visit small businesses and promote the event. The port also has sent officials to Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rican businesses offering products such as coffee, lettuce, plantains, avocados and quenepas could be exported, she said, along with cigars, rum and even rare orchids, makeup and beach attire, chairs, bags and umbrellas.

Cuevas-Neunder is promoting a future trade mission from Florida to Puerto Rico so Florida business owners “can see where the products are made, how the coffee is grown and produced, and visit the pineapple farms.”

“I see something that is good for Florida and good for Puerto Rico,” she said. “Many are small businesses that need to survive.”

And because Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory it doesn’t benefit from international trade with the U.S., Cevas-Neunder said.

For businesses interested in learning more and getting involved, visit www.puertoricanchambersm.com.