Proposed Tamapa-Quintana Roo ferry service officially on hold until summer 2013

Problems with government permits stalls project for this year

Cancún, Quintana Roo --
A proposed ferry service from Tampa, Fla. to the Quintana Roo industrial port of Calica on Mexico's Caribbean coast is on hold for at least a year, news services report. The plan's primary sponsor is U.S. based United Caribbean Lines.

Jorge Mario Chabolla Márquez, director of Calizas Industrializadas del Carmen, said that Mexico's Dept. of Communications and Transportation is withholding necessary permits for development and enlargement of the port for reasons which are not clear. He suggested that the Q.R. hotel industry may have objected to the creation of a major passenger port at Calica. He plans to meet with federal regulators soon to get more information. Márquez expressed confidence that the project eventually will be approved, and he said that it will provide a major economic stimulus to the area.

Calica's existing port facility would have to be expanded and modernized to enable it to receive passengers and their vehicles. Márquez said that Mexico's immigration authority (INM) also would need to open an office at the terminal. But he emphasized that the port would serve merely for passenger reception, and not as a home port. Márquez indicated that Mexican federal funds are available for the project. He said that UCL had hoped to begin ferry service by the end of this year.

If approved, United Caribbean initially would offer two round-trip sailings a week between Tampa and Calica. Travelers could visit the Riviera Maya, or any location on the Yucatán peninsula, with the convenience of using their own vehicles.

Carnival Cruise Lines, the world's largest cruise operator, announced in March 2012 that it also intends to build a terminal at Calica. The planned investment was estimated at $150 million USD.