BY MARK B. SOLOMON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR–NEWS
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A thoughtleaders
THE DAY BEFORE PRESIDENT OBAMA’S HISTORIC
March 21 visit to Cuba, a group of 18 U.S. logistics practitioners, accompanied by three executives of the Transportation
Intermediaries Association (TIA), arrived on the island for a
mission that, while not nearly as symbolic, may be more significant. The group spent five days observing Cuba’s infrastructure
and gauging the country’s ability to handle the potential acceleration of logistics demand to support American businesses if
the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba is fully lifted.
One member of the entourage was Robert Kemp, founder
and president of DRT Transportation LLC, a third-party logistics service provider (3PL) based in Lebanon, Pa. A natural
entrepreneur, Kemp seems right at home in a country where
business risk-taking is a daily activity. But Kemp is also a pragmatic businessman responsible for his customers’ lifeblood:
their goods. Kemp sees the chance to get in on the ground floor
of a market of 12 million, many of whom will have access to
U.S.-made goods for the first time. But he sees Cuba for what
it is today: a nation with great potential and with a competitive
seaport, but with little else, including the disposable income its
consumers will need to buy U.S. exports.
In an interview with Mark B. Solomon, executive editor–
news, Kemp talks about his experience, the opportunities, and
why he is (in our words, not his) “bullishly skeptical.”
There’s great opportunity in supporting U.S.
brands that will soon have access to 12 million
stuff-starved people. But as Rob Kemp and his
colleagues discovered during their Cuba trade
mission in March, only the very patient need apply.
INTERVIEW WITH ROB KEMP
“Bullishly skeptical”
on Cuba
