Terminal de Contenedores de Mariel
Cuba's deep-water container port at Mariel, controlled by GAESA and designated by OFAC after its mid-June transfer to Coral Maritima.
Last refreshed: 26 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why did the US blacklist Cuba's main container port and its new owner together?
Timeline for Terminal de Contenedores de Mariel
OFAC names a Mariel evasion transfer
Cuba DispatchBackground
OFAC designated the Terminal de Contenedores de Mariel (TCM) on 23 July 2026 together with Coral Maritima S.A., the firm State says received the port in a mid-June transfer built to evade sanctions.
TCM is Cuba's principal deep-water container port, sited in the Mariel Special Development Zone roughly 28 miles west of Havana. Its channel dredging allows Neo-Panamax vessels, and the terminal handles around 300,000 TEU a year against a stated capacity of 800,000 TEU, making it the country's main gateway for containerised trade. It has been controlled by GAESA, the Cuban armed forces' economic conglomerate.
Designating the port and its transfer recipient in a single notice closes a loophole analysts had flagged since OFAC's June action against GAESA-linked banks: a blocked asset cannot be shielded by moving it to an undesignated Shell if that Shell is blacklisted the same day.