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Crowley Maritime Corporation, the shipping company based in Jacksonville, Florida, reached a confidential agreement to settle the lawsuit filed against it under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act for the use of the Port of Mariel, as reported by cubatrade.org, the portal specialized in trade relations between Cuba and the United States.
The claimant, Odette Blanco de Fernandez, born Blanco Rosell, alleged that Crowley was "trafficking" in properties confiscated by the Cuban regime in September 1960, including interests in Marítima Mariel and Azucarera Mariel, by directing container ships to the Mariel Container Terminal within the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM).
The case was originally filed in December 2020 in the Middle District of Florida, being the 32nd lawsuit under the Freedom Law, and was subsequently transferred to the Southern District of Florida.
The parties reached a preliminary agreement on January 30, 2026, after mediation with retired judge Michael Hanzman from the firm Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP.
On February 5, 2026, Judge Darrin P. Gayles administratively closed the case, and on April 28, 2026, he formally dismissed it with prejudice through an order without a hearing, after the parties submitted a joint stipulation of dismissal.
The defendants in the agreement are Crowley Holdings, Inc., Crowley Maritime Corporation, Crowley Liner Services, Inc., Crowley Latin America Services, LLC, and Crowley Logistics, Inc.
The economic terms of the agreement are confidential.
Crowley is the only American shipping company with regular service to Cuba, operating four monthly departures from Port Everglades and additional services from Jacksonville and North Carolina, authorized by the Department of the Treasury since 2001.
The company, founded in 1892 and led by Thomas B. Crowley Jr. as the third generation of the family, reports revenues of $3.5 billion and is the largest shipping company under the Jones Act in the United States.
The resolution of this case occurs at a time of intense litigation activity under Title III, with recent agreements also reached by American Airlines and Iberostar from Spain, while Delta Air Lines is facing an active lawsuit regarding operations at José Martí International Airport in Havana.
Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, enacted in 1996, allows U.S. citizens and their heirs to sue in federal courts those who "traffic" in properties expropriated by the Cuban government without compensation.
After being suspended by all presidents since its enactment, the first Trump administration activated it on May 19, 2019, and the second Trump administration reactivated Title III on January 31, 2025, canceling the suspension issued by Biden.
Since 2019, dozens of lawsuits have been filed under this legal mechanism, and no case has gone to trial: the outcomes have mainly been dismissals or confidential settlements like the one that now concludes the litigation against Crowley.
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