Mexican Navy Issues 130 Citations Against Unlicensed Boats in Cancún

Cancún, Quintana Roo — The Mexican Navy has issued 130 administrative citations against an equal number of unlicensed boats operating in local waters, opening the way for the vessels to be sanctioned or confiscated.

Francisco Fernández Millán, president of the Quintana Roo Nautical Association, announced the figure after a members’ meeting attended by the port captains of Playa del Carmen, Puerto Juárez and Puerto Morelos. The Isla Mujeres port captain did not attend because of scheduling conflicts.

Fernández Millán said the Navy carried out quiet enforcement work against the irregular operators, which his industry group had not seen coming after years of denouncing unfair competition from the vessels.

“This serves to regulate them. It is not so that they cannot work — that applies to everyone — but so that they comply with legal requirements, for greater safety and to have fair competition,” he said.

Push for a one-stop permitting office

Association members at the meeting also agreed to work toward a “one-stop shop” that would speed up paperwork for members, many of whom have decades of experience and renew the same documents every year.

Shipyard project on hold

Fernández Millán also revealed that a planned shipyard for northern Quintana Roo is stalled because of a procedural problem in Mexico City.

A shipyard would mean major savings for the state’s boat operators, who currently travel as far as Yucatán for repairs and maintenance, facing long waits along with the cost and time of the journey.

Investors in the project already held the land and had begun the process, but days before a press conference scheduled to announce the shipyard, the apparent blockage from the capital emerged.

“At Canirac [the national restaurant chamber] they complain about 42 procedures to open a business. We in the nautical sector have 87, and a shipyard must have about 500,” Fernández Millán said. “They left us on stand-by.”