News / Mexican president unveils expansion plan to create deepsea berths at Progreso

© Enrique Gomez Tamez

The port of Progreso, on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, is mostly known for its cruise ship terminal, but the new Mexican president sees potential for it to play a bigger role in the nation’s Gulf coast cargo flows.

President Claudia Sheinbaum recently announced plans to expand the port’s infrastructure and inland connectivity.

“We are finally going to make it a reality for the port of Progreso to be a deepsea port,” she declared, adding that the expansion should take about three years.

The port is currently a minor gateway to the US, Latin America and Europe. It has a container facility, run by APM Terminals, as well as two hydrocarbon terminals, a grain facility and two public berths for multipurpose shipments. An array of commodities, from textiles and jewellery to seafood and agriculture, pass through as exports.

In the first eight months of this year, Progreso handled 4.8m tons of freight, an increase of 20.1% over the same period in 2023. The APM terminal, which is equipped with two mobile harbour cranes and has a capacity of 279,494 teu, has handled around 22 ships a month over the first half of the year, processing 51,171 teum according to Beatriz Yera, MD APM Terminals Mexico.

Officials have not released details of he expansion, which will include the development of an 80 ha area and dredging to deepen and widen its ship channel from 492 ft width and 36ft depth to 500ft and 47ft respectively, to accommodate larger vessels.

Landside, the authorities are planning a rail link to connect the port to the Maya Train, a new 1,554 km intercity railway that traverses the Yucatan peninsula.

President Sheinbaum said the timeframe for the rail expansion would be between 12 and 30 months, but that it would take a maximum of two years for the Maya Train to be up and running.

Navy secretary Raymundo Morales Angeles said environmental impact and soil mechanics studies had begun on the day of the announcement, with dredging equipment and personnel from the navy following within days.

Ms Yera is upbeat on the Progreso expansion. She said: “This ambitious project is set to significantly boost the region’s economic development and attract foreign investment, thereby strengthening the port’s commercial ties.”

Mexico’s container gateways have struggled to cope with rising volumes, resulting in congestion and delays.

According to data from GoComet, the port of Ensenada has been the worst affected, with delays reaching 22 days, followed by Lazaro Cardenas, with eight-day delays, and Veracruz and Manzanillo with delays of four days. At Altamira and Mazatlan, delays have averaged three days.