By Paola Belloso
MOBILE, AL- The Hispanic Association of the Gulf Coast (HABAGC) in collaboration with the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce, held an event on Thursday at the Gulf Quest Maritime Museum called Opportunity: Puerto Rico. The event was described as an opportunity to increase business relationships and partnerships between the corporate sector and local Hispanic-owned businesses and business/Government from Puerto Rico. Some of the benefits includes providing a networking and marketing portal for Hispanic or Hispanic related business, share the vast cultural heritage with the local community and recognize leaders in the community.
Among the local businesses in attendance were: Wind Creek Hospitality Group, Alabama Port Authority, Mobile Paints, Isaiah Engineering, Coastal Alabama, Crimson Shipping, Thompson Engineering, Alabama Power, Imex America, AT&T Atlanta and ShipShape Urban Farms. Bill Sisson, President of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce was also in attendance and was among the speakers of the day, talking of the recent business opportunities that have come to the area. Also, a speaker was Maria Mendez, Director of the Alabama Port Authority, who spoke in representation of Crimson Shipping, about the Jones Law and how Crimson Shipping is among the few ships that are able to go directly to Puerto Rico and the only one from Mobile.
According to Investopedia, “ The Jones Act is a federal law that regulates maritime commerce in the United States. It requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported on ships that are built, owned, and operated by United States citizens or permanent residents. It is also known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.” This act has been widely criticized for being harmful to the economical state of the island due to higher cost of products and restricting who can do trade with Puerto Rico. Leida Javier, VP of HABAGC and fellow Puerto Rican says, this opens a lot of opportunities for commerce between the Gulf Coast and the Island. “So, this year, not only because of the Hurricane, but because of the business investment opportunities that are in Puerto Rico and the incentives, the tax incentives, it was natural for us to try to get this port of Alabama and the Puerto Rican needs and businesses together.”
Mike Dow, former Mayor of Mobile, who is also the Executive Director of the Gulf Quest Maritime Museum where the event was hosted was also among the first speakers at the event. “I spent the last three decades of my life, going through some teaching process trying to say, okay, what’s the vision for our community, economic development wise, what are our priorities? And we’ve been on a fun path this past three decades.” Said Dow, who adds that the event has been fantastic in terms of economic possibilities for Mobile.
The Puerto Rican organizations in attendance were: IMEX Americas, Discover Puerto Rico, and the Association of Products from Puerto Rico. Derrick Lugo, the International Trade Broker for IMEX America was among the speakers of the organizations from Puerto Rico, “I’ve been in the trading business since 2001, acting as a broker, a trading broker, meaning we represent factories from different countries, and the main business is to develop markets for our clients products or services.” Said Lugo, who adds that the Gulf Coast is one of his main targets. “So we’ve been expanding, first we started in Puerto Rico and Miami, then we expanded to sell in Panama, right now we are in Costa Rica as well, we sell to the USA, and starting with Canada, so right now Alabama and the whole south region is in our top target to be developed.”
HABAGC sees this business fair as a success and hopes to continue to host these events that move forward towards their mission which is “To foster Hispanic economic and cultural development and to create sustainable prosperity for the benefit of the Gulf Coast region.”
