Cozumel’s $2B Megacruiser Port Halted by Legal Dispute

QUINTANA ROO, Mexico — The global cruise industry is advancing rapidly, with vessel sizes growing at an accelerated pace. Starting in 2026, ships are projected to be 12 percent longer, 67 percent wider, 78 percent heavier, and have a 72 percent greater passenger capacity. To meet this demand for capacity, the port terminal company Muelles del Caribe began preparing a pier project in 2020, the first in Cozumel with dimensions sufficient to receive these megaships. However, the company recently announced it would halt an investment exceeding $2 billion.

The firm stated it is awaiting more favorable conditions to begin construction, specifically once the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) completes a review of the Environmental Impact Assessment (MIA). This permit was originally granted on December 7, 2021, by the General Directorate of Environmental Impact and Risk, under file number SGPA/DGIRA/DG-05859-21.

The current review was initiated after five ecological groups demanded an evaluation of a purported "artificial reef," fictitiously named "Villablanca," which does not appear in any government or private registry. The ministry, headed by Alicia Bárcena, acquiesced to the activists despite their having lost a substantive lawsuit before a federal court in Quintana Roo and a subsequent review by a Collegiate Tribunal in Veracruz. In the legal proceedings (indirect amparo 62/2022 and amparo en revisión 573/2023), the groups failed to prove their legal standing or the existence of the alleged reef.

Although activists began their campaign against Muelles del Caribe in 2022, other opponents emerged just three months ago: legislators from the Green Party, Karen Castrejón, Carlos Puente, and Renán Sánchez Tajonar, who rejected the development and even claimed that no permits existed.

Opposition also comes from the company Sand Dollar Sports, which operates on Villablanca beach—the name given to the supposed "reef," which is in reality a collection of corroded metal structures and poorly developed plants. From this site, the company sells coral restoration tourism experiences for up to $250. Sand Dollar Sports is a multi-million dollar business with more than 20 nautical vessels that also occupies the beach adjacent to the proposed pier site.

The firm, owned by American John Flynn, acknowledges having financed at least two of the opposing ecological groups, citing its interest in conserving the beach for Sand Dollar Sport.

The lack of legal certainty in Quintana Roo for investments is deterring capital from Mexico in favor of Caribbean competitors like Grand Bahama, Honduras, and even Belize. These competitors offer clear rules and public-private partnerships to build megapiers and expect to partake in an annual regional economic spillover of $1.6 billion.