Lumber company begins shipments to Cuba

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxx>]

(I had been under the impression
the exceptions to the blockade
were supposed to limited to only
food and medicines.

(The Cuban people, resourceful
as they are, don't eat wood, and
this would be one hell of a lot of
tongue depressors, but the more
trade between our two countries,
the better.

(Cuba could and would purchase
far more if it could SELL its many
products TO the United States.)
========================

Published Monday, June 9, 2003
Jacksonville lumber company begins shipments to Cuba

The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
A lumber company will begin shipments to Cuba this month,
becoming the first American company to sell wood to the
communist nation since 1958, company officials said Monday.

Lanahan Lumber Co. has orders for 350 containers of southern
yellow pine, the company said. The first shipments of 25
containers will be taken from Jacksonville and Gulfport,
Miss., to Havana within the next two weeks and will continue
twice a month for the next six months.

"We are very excited to announce this partnership with Cuba
and to be the first in almost 43 years to create such a
partnership," said company president Michael Lanahan, who
visited the Cuba six times last year to secure the orders.

The Jacksonville-based company has the potential to ship
nearly 800 containers of lumber to Cuba over the next year.

The lumber will be used in Cuba to rebuild farm houses that
were destroyed by hurricanes and to build pallets to move
wheat and other grain shipped from U.S. farms, the company
said.

The lumber sales are permitted by the U.S. Trade Act and
authorized by the Department of Treasury.

A 2000 U.S. law allows American food sales as an exception
to the four-decade-old embargo against Cuba. The first
contract was signed on Dec. 16, 2001, and since then Cuba
has contracted to buy more than $200 million in American
food.