French shipping giant CMA CGM SA announced recently that it had entered an agreement with the government of Cuba and Cuban company Almacenes Universales SA to build a logistics hub at the Cuban port of Mariel as part of the largest infrastructure investment the island nation has seen in decades.

CMA CGM, the world’s No. 3 container ship operator by capacity, will help back the hub, about 30 miles west of Havana, for the warehousing of import and export goods, distribution of shipping containers and storage of both full and empty containers at the port.

The seaport is being financed by the Brazilian government. The first section of the port opened early last year, and received 57 ships carrying just 15,000 containers in total during its first six months of operation. The port is being equipped to handle so-called post-Panamax ships, the larger vessels that will only be able to pass through the Panama Canal as is, once the waterway’s expansion is completed in December, 2015.