Cuban Fishing Shipbuilding. Capacity Utilization. Challenges and Perspectives Until 2030

After 1959, Cuba paved the way for the development of fishing in its adjacent waters, including the construction of fishing vessels. From that time until today, the shipyards of the fishing industry have built, repaired and maintained thousands of fishing vessels in different scenarios, both financial and economic. Under the current national and international circumstances, and after the impact of a global pandemic of as yet unknown consequences, the future of this industry faces short, medium and long-term challenges. It requires the replacement of the oldest vessels with much more efficient ones, using construction methods and technologies different from those used in the past, with a stronger link with other sectors of the national industry and the modernization of its facilities and equipment in order to become an exporter taking advantage of the geographical position of the island. There is an urgent need to improve the utilization of installed capacity, for which this paper proposes a practical way of measuring this important indicator. The subject is approached from a technical–economic point of view and its aim is to provide a basis for decision making.