The Danish concessionaire of the Container Terminal of the Progreso high sea port, APM Terminalsis clear that private investments of 3,000 million pesos, as well as those of the federal and state governments, in the expansion of the Buenos Aires maritime complex will improve its operation and effectiveness in the short term.
The APM investment has the objective of improve the operation of your terminal and address the future increase in the volume of foreign trade cargo that will come to Yucatán.
By expanding the port with federal and state investment, the possibility of larger ships arriving in Progreso opens up.
According to him Progreso port expansion projectwhich spreads the He did not survive In one of its information screens, the dredging of the navigation channel will have a length of 8.1 kilometers instead of the current 7.4 kilometers, it will go from a depth of 11.75 meters to 13.30 and a width from 150 meters to 180.
In addition to the internal dredging of the port and the construction of two platforms of 40 hectares each, the dock will have an internal depth of 12.50 meters instead of the current 11.75.
The existing Ciaboga dock will measure 600 meters in diameter instead of the current 450, the new Ciaboga dock will also be 600 meters in diameter and a depth of 6.50 to 12.50 meters.
The new land platforms will have 16 additional docking positions in a length of 4,500 meters of docks and will build two wave dissipation barriers, one 1,500 meters long with 100 meters wide and one meter deep, and the other 830 meters long, 150 meters wide and one meter deep.
In total They will extract 12,625.456 cubic meters of material from the seabed which will be used to fill the 80 hectares of the new land platforms.
With all these extensionsWill the container terminal be able to receive state-of-the-art ships?was asked Victor Peter KonenCEO of the Danish company.
“I would say, we can bring larger ships than the current ones, but there are limits and technical specifications not only of the length of the dock, but of the cranes themselves,” he explained.
“The mobile cranes we operate are Mobile Harbor Cranes. In other terminals, due to their characteristics, STS cranes are used, which are ‘ship to shore’ (from ship to coast or from ship to land)”, he said. “They are more traditional cranes like the ones we have in Lázaro Cárdenas to serve larger ships.”
The government reinforces Pier 6 of the current high-altitude port of Progreso which, as is known, had a technical problem in June 2024 when collapsed due to structural problemsthe CEO recalled.
Pier 6 remains closed for repair and reinforcement workso the Container Terminal still does not operate in original conditions.
“By the time we have the two additional cranes, plus the other two that are in operation, we would have the reinforced capacity to receive two ships at the same time,” he explained.
“Today we only take a single ship because one dock is interdicted. Dock 6 is under construction. To take the ships, literally if we look at the finish now, there is only one ship that is operating at dock 7, which is a shared dock.”
Due to the temporary closure of Pier 6, APM Terminals has to share dock 7 with other users because a dock dedicated to containers is under construction.
“The port authorities are leaving Pier 6 in its original condition,” he stressed. “I was not here in this port when Pier 6 was damaged. I have been told that a storm damaged part of the dock and that, of course, must be intervened and reinforced.”
“That is the government’s commitment, it is also within this contract to extend the 19-year concession.”
He APM Terminals investment plan of $3 billion in 19 years It is for the improvement of the pier inward, and the government does its part for the recovery and reinforcement of pier 6.
There are two docks, one is a dock in a corner which is 5 and 6 which is interdicted. Pier 5 is suitable and works very well, but operations are also suspended, so the shared use pier is 7.
The manager does not know when the work on Pier 6 would end because that information is handled by Asipona.
“I am a believer that there is potential here and that we still need to explore more, not just us,” Victor Konen said. “The APM company is a link in a chain. We are a fixed link, because we are literally parked in a port.”
“I have a terminal, but in that value chain we have several other actors that are important such as importers, exporters, customs agents, logistics agents, shipping companies and transporters.”
“So, this entire chain has to come together to promote the port of Progreso,” he reiterated. “We are the only container terminal in the southeast of the country. In theory, everything that enters or leaves Yucatán or that region should enter and exit through Progreso, not divert ships to Veracruz.”
“On the other hand, merchant ships should not enter or exit through another way. Or maybe, I don’t know, taking other routes.”
Project in Progreso port
The CEO of APM Terminals, Victor Peter Konenaddressed the work in the high port.
It is a good opportunity with all the actions carried out by the federal and state governments to have greater industrial and economic growth in Yucatán, the interviewee pointed out.
With that vision, the Danish company and the Yucatecan government They go hand in hand so that when the port detonates, in a good sense of the word, and begins to have a peak in demand, the deep-sea port and the operators are ready to face future challenges.
Conditions
When asked where he sees the potential for foreign trade to grow towards Yucatan, Victor Konen responded: “When we talk about a terminal we have to contextualize it. The APM company depends on the shipping companies. We have to make a port attractive so that the shipping companies are interested in coming, and obviously that the economic conditions are attractive so that the exporters and their plants come here.”