TravelTill

History of Progreso


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The port of Progreso was founded by Don Juan Miguel Castro in 1872, and due to its strategic location, just 36 Km away form Merida, is considered a natural gateway to connect the Yucat�n Peninsula with the rest of the World by sea.

With the boom of the Sisal (Henequen) and facing the necessity of exporting this product, a battery of 3 piers was built, which for a long time worked efficiently for the port traffic, which supplied the peninsula of all products arriving via the ocean. These wooden docks had an official depth of 11 feet, so the ships were forced to anchor at least 3 miles away in the ocean; facing the necessity for docks with a greater depth to cover the maritime traffic requirements, A new dock that would cover the increasing necessities of the maritime traffic was requested to the government of president Lazaro Cardenas, so in 1937 the Danish company "Christine and Nielsen" was hired to build the viaduct and wharf at a cost of 13 million Mexican pesos with a work duration of over 11 years, a period of time that spanned the presidential periods of Lazaro Cardenas, General Manuel Avila Camacho and Miguel Aleman Valdez.

On the fist days of the month of June, 1947, the monumental building was set in service, and a termination a viaduct the length of 1.8 kilometers and 2 wharf docks of 200 meters each, and an official depth of 15 feet for both docks, the first ship to dock at the newly completed pier was called the Emancipation.

The newly popular pier was complete in its services and for many years following the cargo was handled through the port, assisted by the railroad and road transportation, however, in face of the important advances in the area, both commercially and industrially, the port capacity was limited to receive only small vessels, that could carry only up to 3000 tons of product, making the maritime freight less competitive each time.



For that reason, in 1985, with the support of the federal government
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