How Progreso’s Pier Expansion Is Washing Away Yucatan’s Beaches
Yucatán is experiencing a crisis unfolding along its once pristine coast. Beachfront property owners are preparing multi-million dollar lawsuits against the Mexican government. They assert the expansion of Progreso’s pier is rapidly destroying beachfront property.
The argument is backed by official studies and by residents’ growing desperation as the sea creeps closer to their homes and businesses every day.
The heart of the problem is the Progreso pier. Already the longest in the world, stretching 6.5 kilometers / four miles into the Gulf of Mexico, Progreso’s pier is now increasing its size even more to expand its cargo capacity.
In December 2020, Mexico’s environmental risk agency issued a permit for the expansion of Progreso’s pier. Crucially, in that same document, the agency officially recognized that the existing pier creates a gradient in sand movement along more than seven kilometers of coast. It admitted this has caused visible erosion for the first six kilometers south of the port.
However, property owners and environmental defenders argue this assessment did not go far enough. The official study did not evaluate critical areas, including Chelem Puerto, Chicxulub Puerto, and Progreso’s traditional seawall. Residents report that beach loss in these spots accelerated dramatically starting in January 2025, coinciding with when a big ship started a massive dredging project. The link, they say, is clear: the expansion project is making a bad situation much worse.
In recent weeks, the accumulation of sargassum has been particularly dramatic in Chelem, where accessing the ocean has become nearly impossible.Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht / Yucatán Magazine
Barriers have been installed along long swaths of Progreso’s beach, despite warnings from experts that they do more harm than good.Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht / Yucatán Magazine
Progreso’s beaches are now full of signs trying to reassure locals and investors that the beaches will be recovered, but instead of quelling people’s anxiety, they are only making them even angrier.Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht / Yucatán Magazine
The attempt to fix the problem has been, by all accounts, a failure. Authorities have tried to hold back the sea with artificial sand refills and large sand-filled tubes called geotubes. These measures have not worked.
“The sea keeps advancing, and there are already homes and businesses at risk,” said local lawmaker Raúl Alvarado.
Compounding the issue of vanishing sand is another growing plague: massive accumulations of sargassum seaweed. While the great Atlantic Sargassum Belt originates from nutrient-rich waters far out in the ocean, local infrastructure can drastically worsen its impact on shorelines.
Scientists and coastal engineers note that long structures like piers and breakwaters act as barriers not only to sand but also to floating mats of seaweed. The Progreso pier, jutting far out to sea, blocks the natural along-shore currents that might otherwise distribute the seaweed more widely or carry it past. Instead, prevailing winds and currents push the sargassum against the pier, where it becomes trapped. From there, it is funneled and concentrated onto the beaches immediately south of the structure, the very areas already suffering the most severe erosion.
This creates a devastating double blow: as the sand disappears, the shore is left with rotting mounds of seaweed, which smother the remaining beach ecosystem, deter tourism, and release harmful gases as they decompose.
The Legal Challenge to Progreso’s Pier Expansion
The legal battle over the pier is taking shape on two fronts. The first is the planned lawsuits for financial damages from property owners. They would base their case on the government’s own 2021 environmental resolution that acknowledges the pier’s role in erosion. If successful, this could set a national precedent, holding the state financially responsible for environmental damage caused by its projects and policies under constitutional law.
Furthermore, complaints allege that the approved Environmental Impact Assessment only covered 40 hectares, while the actual work spans 80 hectares, meaning half the project lacks proper evaluation or authorization.
This situation is not a surprise to scientists. Research from NASA, in collaboration with Mexico’s CICESE research center, has been clear since at least 2014. Using satellite imagery from the Landsat 8 satellite, scientists detected that the massive Progreso pier significantly alters the coastal dynamics of the Yucatan coast.
The structure interrupts the natural flow of sand carried by coastal currents. This interruption creates a “shadow” effect where sand accumulates on one side, while areas down-current are starved of sediment, leading to active erosion.
Satellite data visually confirms the shoreline being pushed inland by the sea in these affected zones. This same physical principle applies to floating sargassum, turning the pier into a giant trap for the seaweed.
Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht, PhD, is a journalist, photographer, and expedition leader. Born in Mérida, Carlos holds degrees from universities in Mexico, Canada, and Norway. Most recently, he earned a doctorate in Heritage Studies in 2026.
