Press "Enter" to skip to content

Semarnat gives green light to fourth cruise ship dock for Cozumel

Cozumel, Q.R. — The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) has given the green light for the construction of a fourth cruise ship dock in Cozumel. Official approval from the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Semarnat) was given last week even though environmentalists warn of ecological damage.

Semarnat provided authorization to Muelles del Caribe to carry out the project, which has already been published in the 2020 Ecological Gazette. The project was announced earlier this month by President Andrés Manuel López Obradoras part of 39 projects that make up the Economic Reactivation Agreement for the country.

Aside from a pier, the fourth dock project includes the construction of a building that will function as a cruise terminal to receive cruise ship passengers whose connection will be through a pedestrian bridge that will cross Av. Rafael E. Melgar.

Construction is set to begin December 20 and, according to AMLO, cost around 511 million peso, however, their report says the project will cost 58.6 million peso. The construction of the pier will cover 1.16 hectares and allow the docking of boats up to 362 meters in length.

In their report, Muelles del Caribe says that the main criteria for selecting the project site was due to urban development land use, which they report, is in accordance with the Cozumel Population Center Urban Development Plan.