DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Soon passengers will be able to take a ferry from Miami to Cuba. Plans are underway for a new ferry terminal to serve the island. Miami, of course, is home to many Cuban exiles who fled the Castro regime, but NPR's Greg Allen reports that more elected officials in Miami are seeing an upside to engagement with Cuba.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: The Obama administration approved licenses last year to companies that want to run ferries to Cuba. Several are interested. Still, it came as a surprise last week when the Port of Miami said it's considering building a new ferry terminal on land that had been slated for development.
CARLOS GIMENEZ: For me, it seems to be a very logical opportunity. There is interest.
ALLEN: That's Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. There was some criticism, but compared to the firestorm anything involving Cuba has often sparked in the past, it's a sign that in Miami, times have changed. Still, Gimenez was sensitive to suggestions that Miami-Dade County was essentially doing business with Cuba.
GIMENEZ: We don't do business with countries. We do business with carriers. Where the carriers go is where the carriers go, but we don't have a ferry terminal, and that may be a good use for that property.
ALLEN: In Miami, the most controversial part of plans for the new ferry terminal is where it will be located. The location endorsed by Gimenez is an unused portion of the port that's also eyed by developers. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Xavier Suarez - like Gimenez, a Cuban-American - agrees that building a ferry terminal at the port makes a lot of sense. But like most other elected officials here, he's not yet ready to give trade and travel to Cuba his stamp of approval.
XAVIER SUAREZ: Well, it's a decision to be made by the governments in question up and not by the county. We don't want to get left behind if ferry service is in fact started.
ALLEN: Several other ports in Florida, besides Miami, have also expressed interest, including Tampa and Key West. Robert Muse is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., who represents Baja Ferries USA. Since 2009, when the Obama administration relaxed rules for Cuban-Americans traveling to the island, Muse says the political outlook among elected officials in Miami has changed dramatically.
ROBERT MUSE: Go to Miami airport. You'll see at least 10 flights a day are going to Cuba at this point. I don't think any local politician wants to get in the way of enhanced opportunities for family travel to and from Cuba.
ALLEN: About a half-million Americans - mostly Cuban-Americans - visit the island each year currently. Ferry operators say their fares will be competitive with airlines and that they'll offer something not available on jets - cheap rates for cargo. Bruce Nierenberg is the president of United Caribbean Lines, another company jockeying to provide ferry service to Cuba. For Cuban-Americans carrying everything from clothing, flat screen TVs and car parts to the island, he says a 12-hour ferry trip will be a game changer.
BRUCE NIERENBERG: It's very expensive to take it on the air charters 'cause they charge a fortune for the excess baggage. And we can give them a wire bin that holds a thousand pounds of stuff for a hundred bucks and, you know, just - and let them rent that and take that over there and take tons of stuff with them, which is really why they go.
ALLEN: Ferry companies say after initial enthusiasm, Cuban officials have put approval of regular service between the U.S. and the island on hold, but that action could come by the end of the year. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.