Focus on Manatee | Port Manatee collaborates with Latin Chamber to expand international commerce

Since more than two-thirds of international trade moving through Port Manatee originates or ends somewhere in Latin America, it’s only natural that the port holds the Gulf Coast Latin Chamber of Commerce among the local business organizations with which it collaborates to advance global opportunities.

Indeed, the Latin Chamber, as it is known for short, recently held its annual retreat at the International Trade Hub at Port Manatee, as the reinvigorated not-for-profit group’s new volunteer leadership developed plans for dozens of 2020 events aimed at pursuing synergies between the area’s Hispanic and general business communities and fostering support for thriving in the global marketplace.

While Port Manatee this year is celebrating the 50-year anniversary of its dedication, the Latin Chamber is more than half that age, having been established in June 1994. It now counts among its members more than 100 local businesses, from attorneys and bankers to real estate and media executives to restaurants and hotels, as well as expanding participation by retailers.

Astrid Cruz, co-owner of The Signature Look Photography, who has assumed presidency of the Latin Chamber, is as enthusiastic as those of us at Port Manatee about the prospects for mutually beneficial collaboration, including engagement of the International Trade Hub at Port Manatee, which was founded in 2014 to serve as a vital link between markets in Florida and throughout the world.

As Cruz pointed out at the all-day retreat on Jan. 12, Hispanic owners of local small businesses may face significant hurdles to entering the global arena – from language barriers to negotiating the complexities of international trade.

The Latin Chamber is expanding its programming to address such concerns, with business breakfasts and lunch-and-learn gatherings augmenting its traditional monthly Conexiones networking events. The group is planning a “Trips around the World” expo for October plus quarterly educational seminars. And the organization has established two new working committees, one focusing on workforce and community development and the other on public policy and small business.

Working together with vibrant organizations such as the Latin Chamber helps Port Manatee in advancing its mission to be a center of trade-related activity and a powerful catalyst of countywide economic growth – a mission already being fulfilled as the self-sustaining port generates more than $2.3 billion in economic impacts and provides 24,000-plus direct and indirect jobs, all without benefit of local property tax support.

Looking at the roster of Port Manatee’s leading international trade partners further underscores the importance of Latin America to achievement of this mission. The top five countries receiving exports from Port Manatee include four in Latin America – Colombia, Guatemala, Peru and Costa Rica – while the top five partners for imports into the port include Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico and Argentina, with the fifth, Portugal, being a Latin-speaking country in Europe.

Those of us at Port Manatee and the International Trade Hub at Port Manatee look forward to continuing to build upon partnerships with the Gulf Coast Latin Chamber of Commerce and a host of other organizations in advancing win-win-win propositions benefiting local businesses, the seaport and the people of greater Manatee County as a whole.

Carlos Buqueras is the executive director of Port Manatee.