Ferry service between the United States and Cuba will likely resume shorty given that the Obama administration approved the connection on Tuesday, USA Today reported.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury granted Baja Ferries, which operates passenger service in Mexico, a license to operate the route that had been shut down for decades. The company is in the process of seeking approval from the Cuban government, Robert Muse, a lawyer for Baja Ferries, told the newspaper.

Three other companies -- Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Havana Ferry Partners; Greater Orlando-based United Caribbean Lines Florida; and Miami and Fort Lauderdale-based Airline Brokers Company -- were also given a green light from the department, according to the (Broward County, Florida) Sun-Sentinel.

Muse told USA Today that the approvals were a further step in the rapprochement between Washington and Havana, which began last December as Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro jointly announced that they sought to reestablish a diplomatic relations between their countries.

"I think it's a further indication of the seriousness of the Obama administration in normalizing relations with Cuba," said Muse, an expert on U.S. law on Cuba. "We're now going from the theoretical to the very specific," the attorney added.

Ferries ran daily between Florida and Cuba before the island nation's 1959 revolution. Today, the approximately 600,000 people who travel between to the Caribbean destination each year depend on expensive charter flights, USA Today recalled.

Leonard Moecklin, Havana Ferry's managing partner, pointed to the significance of the new licenses granted by the Treasury, which exceeds commercial matters, the Sun-Sentinel said.

"I'm very excited," he said, "because this is a historical event in U.S.-Cuba relations."

Moecklin's company plans to offer trips that would be less expensive than charter flights and permit up to 200 pounds of free luggage. He told the Broward County newspaper that Havana Ferry aims to charge passengers roughly $300 to $350 round trip.

But "we don't know the costs yet, because we don't know the costs on the Cuban side," Moecklin cautioned, noting that he said he was already preparing a trip to Cuba for talks with local officials.