Port of Palm Beach wants extended Caribbean reach

Port of Palm Beach wants extended Caribbean reach    Officials from the Port of Palm Beach, Fla. are planning a trade mission to countries in the far eastern Caribbean in February in an effort to grow what they see as an underdeveloped market.
   The trade mission to the nations of Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago was scheduled this week, after the board of directors endorsed the idea at their meeting June 23. Unlike the annual trade mission last February, which focused on the leading trade partners like the Dominican Republic, the 2006 trade mission will focus on new markets.
   'The upcoming trip is to a pair of Lower Antilles nations that, while already served by the port through Tropical Shipping, have vast, untapped potential for future commerce,' a statement from the port said.
   Officials noted that those two countries only get about 30 percent of their imports from the United States, and the market is ripe for growth.