Port cities & free zones

The port

TC Mariel container terminal, operated under concession by PSA International (Singapore). A ~700 m quay built of a 2,000 m master plan, with a Neo-Panamax (~18 m) dredged channel and ~800,000 TEU/yr installed capacity — but running at only ~30–40% (≈250,000–322,000 TEU). Modern and deliberately underused.

Industrial / warehouse zone

The ZED Mariel Special Development Zone (created 2013) wraps the bay — 465.4 km² of industrial land, including a ~386.6 ha Logistics Activities Zone (ZAL) for dry and refrigerated cargo right beside the terminal. ~60+ approved companies and ~7,500 jobs. Purpose-built for exactly this warehousing expansion.

Free zone

The proven model. ZED Mariel already offers tax holidays, streamlined customs and 100% foreign ownership — the template every other port-city free zone would copy.

Rebuild

Fill the empty capacity: automate the container terminal and build automated warehouses on the ZAL land that already exists. No greenfield needed — the berths, land and legal zone are already here.

The port

Puerto Guillermón Moncada, whose modern multipurpose terminal (a US$120M China-financed build, inaugurated 2019) has a ~231 m berth, 10.8 m draft, three tall gantry cranes, two enclosed warehouses (~20,000 t) and a container yard — handling up to ~5,000 t/day. Reportedly underused versus the investment.

Industrial / warehouse zone

The Yarayó terminal area on the inner bay — the port's warehouses and container yard were explicitly meant to seed an industrial development zone. Wider city industry (cement, brewing, the Renté power plant) rings the bay. (No published hectare figure for the Yarayó zone.)

Free zone

A natural second free zone: a modern, under-loaded terminal already exists, so a Mariel-style tax/customs zone could plug straight into spare capacity rather than build from scratch.

Rebuild

Automate the existing under-loaded terminal and convert its two warehouses to automated storage — the fastest path to a working automated hub in the east.

The port

Cuba's main south-coast bulk/energy port on a deep, near-landlocked bay. The O'Bourke terminal ("Zona 2") handles grain, sugar and general cargo — ~126,000 t in Q1 2022 — active but staffing- and maintenance-constrained.

Industrial / warehouse zone

Two anchors: the O'Bourke terminal with grain silos and sugar dikes, and a heavy-industry belt around the bay — the Camilo Cienfuegos oil refinery, the Carlos Marx cement plant, a fertilizer plant and a thermoelectric plant. Active but aging. (No published zone hectare figure.)

Free zone

The deepest bay and the widest existing industrial cluster — a strong candidate for a free zone anchored on refining, materials and bulk, with automated warehousing retrofitted into the O'Bourke footprint.

Rebuild

A retrofit play: modernize the O'Bourke handling and storage, and layer automated warehousing onto the existing heavy-industry base rather than starting fresh.

The port

Havana Bay (three coves). Container traffic was moved out to Mariel in 2014 and the old container terminal closed; Havana is now a cruise, bulk and reefer port, partially converted and partially degraded. Note: the historic cruise/cargo piers carry a certified Helms-Burton (Havana Docks) claim.

Industrial / warehouse zone

The old-city warehouses (almacenes) along the Old Havana waterfront are being redeveloped for tourism and culture. The live dry-logistics node is the Berroa base east of the bay (Habana del Este) — a former free-trade zone that still hosts warehousing companies. (Exact current footprint not published.)

Free zone

Cargo was deliberately shifted to Mariel, so Havana's future is cruise/tourism at the waterfront, with the Berroa base as the natural inland-logistics free-zone node for the capital's consumption.

Rebuild

Restore heritage on the harbor front; concentrate automated logistics at the Berroa base to serve the capital, feeding off Mariel's terminal 45 km west.

The port

A historic sugar-export port on a shallow bay next to Varadero; the harbor was dredged by José Arechabala S.A. in 1939 and draft stays modest. Current berth specs and throughput are not published. Likely underused legacy port.

Industrial / warehouse zone

The Arechabala industrial complex — birthplace of Havana Club rum — on the port district: historic sugar warehousing, a molasses plant, Cuba's oldest large distillery, aging cellars, a petroleum plant and a WWII-era shipyard. A substantial, if aged, warehouse/industrial land bank tied straight to the port. (Current active area not published.)

Free zone

A real, port-adjacent industrial land bank makes it a good free-zone candidate for light manufacturing and warehousing — constrained mainly by the shallow harbor, which limits ship size.

Rebuild

Reuse the Arechabala footprint for automated light-manufacturing and warehousing; dredging would be needed to lift the harbor's ship-size limit.

The port

Cuba's largest supertanker and fuel-storage port — ~1,200 m of berth, ~14–16 m depth, co-located with the Antonio Guiteras power plant. The tank farm (8 tanks of ~50,000 m³) lost four tanks in the August 2022 fire and is under reconstruction. Strategically active but fire-damaged.

Industrial / warehouse zone

The waterfront here is liquid bulk — the supertanker tank farm and power plant — not dry warehousing. City industry (rayon, fibre, fertilizers historically) sits on the Versalles/Dubrocq port fringe. (No verified industrial-district area figure.)

Free zone

Energy-strategic rather than a dry-warehouse fit: best rebuilt as the fuel/energy gateway (rebuild the burned tanks, modernize the terminal) — a free zone here would need new land for dry logistics.

Rebuild

Rebuild the fire-destroyed tank farm and modernize fuel handling; reserve dry automated warehousing for the other ports unless new land is developed here.

The port

A port complex on the Bay of Nuevitas — Puerto Tarafa (sugar), Pastelillo (one of Cuba's key petroleum-distribution terminals, ~170 m berth) and Bufadero, at ~9–10.6 m depth. Aging; the town suffers chronic blackouts.

Industrial / warehouse zone

A deliberately built 1960s–70s "industrial city": a bayshore belt with the (now idle) "26 de Julio" cement plant, the troubled Diez de Octubre thermoelectric plant, fertilizer handling and the Pastelillo fuel tank farm. Storage exists but is much of it deteriorated or idle. (No published zone area.)

Free zone

A real heavy-industry base to rebuild around, but currently distressed — a free zone here is a longer-term revival (restart the cement and fertilizer plants, stabilize power) before automated warehousing pays off.

Rebuild

Revive the idle cement and fertilizer plants and fix the power supply first; automated warehousing follows once the industrial base is running again.

The port

The Punta Gorda / Puerto Moa terminal — a coastal loading facility (~8.5 m draft) that exports nickel-cobalt sulphides and imports fuel, coal and sulfur for the nickel complex. Functioning but strained, with the long-time Sherritt joint venture winding down and ownership in flux.

Industrial / warehouse zone

The industrial zone is the nickel complex itself — the Pedro Sotto Alba (Moa Nickel S.A.) and Che Guevara plants with their ore, sulfur and coal storage, strung along the coast by the port. Operational but heavily aged and a documented contamination zone. (No published zone area.)

Free zone

A critical-minerals free zone is the obvious thesis (nickel-cobalt for batteries), but it hinges on resolving the Sherritt exit and the plants' ownership — and on cleaning up a serious contamination legacy.

Rebuild

Recapitalize the nickel-cobalt complex under new ownership, add mineral-processing and battery-materials capacity, and automate the ore/export handling.

Note: Ownership in flux — Sherritt is exiting and a 2026 acquisition bid for its Cuba nickel stake is circulating.

The port

A fishing and general-cargo port on the Gulf of Guacanayabo — smaller and less modern than Cienfuegos or Santiago, with no China-style upgrade. Current berth, draft and throughput figures are not published (aggregator sites conflate it with Manzanillo, Mexico).

Industrial / warehouse zone

Industrial for its size (~56% of municipal output): a waterfront seafood-processing and cold-storage cluster, Cuba's only vehicle-battery (accumulator) factory, a shipyard, plus textiles, footwear and rum. The fishing/cold-storage cluster is the natural warehouse base. (No published zone area.)

Free zone

A smaller, seafood- and light-manufacturing free zone — modest in scale, with cold-chain automation (processing + refrigerated storage) the most natural first automated-warehouse use case.

Rebuild

Modernize the fishing port and cold chain, and automate refrigerated storage — a focused, right-sized play rather than a mega-terminal.

The port

A small legacy sugar-export town on Nipe Bay — Cuba's largest bay — with a rail-served wharf at ~6.7 m working draft, largely underused. A private developer markets Nipe Bay as a natural deepwater port (claiming ~14 m bay depth), but the deepwater port and SEZ do not exist yet.

Industrial / warehouse zone

Today just a rail-served sugar-warehouse strip along the Antilla waterfront — aging, low-utilization sheds, with no large existing industrial cluster like Nuevitas or Moa. It's the plausible base for a redevelopment, not an active zone.

Free zone

The most speculative: a private thesis pitches a deepwater, critical-minerals free zone off the nearby Moa nickel belt. Real potential (enclosed deep bay, close to the US) but proposal-stage — not a confirmed government project.

Rebuild

A greenfield opportunity if it's ever confirmed: build a new deepwater terminal and a critical-minerals free zone from the rail-served waterfront up. Highest upside, highest uncertainty.

Note: The deepwater/SEZ concept is a private developer's proposal, not a confirmed project; the ~14 m depth is the bay claim vs. the ~6.7 m actual working draft at today's wharf.