Amid the ongoing conflict with the Mexican government and US President Donald Trump’s request for intervention, Calica sought to prevent the transfer of seven ports in Quintana Roo by the Navy to the state’s parastatal administrator, including two in Cozumel, which has the largest cruise ship passenger arrivals worldwide.
The disputes being settled by the subsidiary of the US-based Vulcan Materials Company following the withdrawal of the concession to mine rock in Playa del Carmen, on the orders of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, have escalated to other instances and claims.
Calica demanded the annulment of the concession of seven Quintana Roo ports granted in September 2023 by the Navy to the Quintana Roo Comprehensive Port Authority (Apiqroo), the parastatal entity in charge of managing most of the port facilities in the state.
Ruling against Calica’s lawsuit.
The company filed an administrative annulment lawsuit before the Eleventh Metropolitan Regional Chamber of the Federal Administrative Court of Justice, located in Mexico City. The court ruled against the foreign company in early March, stating that the lawsuit is unfounded because no direct impact was demonstrated by the transfer of these maritime infrastructures.
“The arguments put forward by the plaintiff are unfounded (…) Especially since the plaintiff has not demonstrated that the concessioned areas interfered with the titles granted to it,” reads ruling 24994/23-17-11-5 of the ordinary administrative annulment lawsuit.
Calica sought to annul the concessions granted to the Quintana Roo-based state-owned company, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) on September 18, 2023.
This involved the transfer of two port facilities located in Cozumel, one in Cancún, three in Isla Mujeres, and one in Chetumal, all of which are tourist-oriented and have the highest hotel occupancy rates in the country.
The transnational corporation alleged damage to its Punta Venado port concession area, located south of Playa del Carmen, from where it shipped rock material to the United States. This is also part of the dispute it has with Mexican authorities.
In 2022, on the orders of López Obrador, the company stopped exporting crushed limestone rock extracted using various methods on Mexican soil, including explosives, which ultimately caused serious damage to the aquifer and the Mayan jungle, as Proceso has reported in its follow-up to the issue.
According to the file, the company argued that it was not consulted during the port concessions award process, which it considered unclear.
The Navy rejected the mining company’s claims, according to the ruling. It maintained that some of the port facilities are located more than 200 kilometers away, such as the La Aguada pier, located in Chetumal, near the border with Belize, and therefore do not affect any of its interests.
The closest port facilities to the Punta Venado port are located approximately 20 kilometers away. These are the maritime passenger terminal at the San Miguel pier and the maritime ferry terminal, both in Cozumel. These are closely related to the supply of supplies to the island and the tourism industry of receiving cruise ships.
Apiqroo reported that in 2024, 4.6 million passengers arrived in Cozumel on cruise ships, a figure that places it among the highest internationally. For several years it has even occupied the first place in this category worldwide.
Open Fronts
This new conflict initiated by the US company is not over, as it still has time to appeal to other judicial and administrative bodies.
Calica’s claim is constant: Mexican authorities have harmed its interests on national soil.
At the beginning of March—precisely when this ruling was issued—36 US congressmen formally requested President Donald Trump’s intervention in the conflict between Vulcan Materials Company and the Mexican government over control of the land used to extract rock.
The letter emphasized that these properties, located on the Yucatán Peninsula, are in a strategic location for US economic and security interests and therefore require surveillance and protection.
It was also highlighted that they are located next to the Mayan Train track, an investment attributed by the congressmen to the Chinese Communist Party. Although President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, in a tone of displeasure during her morning press conference on March 10, clarified that it was built with public funds and announced the sending of a letter clarifying this issue.
In April 1987, Calica obtained the concession from the Federation to build and operate the Punta Venado port, about 10 kilometers south of Playa del Carmen, next to the lands of what is now the Xcaret ecotourism park.
Months earlier, Vulcan Materials Company, in partnership with ICA, obtained authorization to mine rock materials on the land now designated as a nature reserve by decree of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
In 2001, Vulcan bought out ICA, its sole partner, thus gaining full control of the rock extraction concession and the port area.
The Punta Venado port has been crucial to its operations, as it shipped millions of tons of crushed rock extracted from Mexican soil to the United States for more than three decades, a valuable material in the construction industry.
It is also currently involved in a dispute over control of Punta Venado, which is in addition to the main dispute over the suspension of limestone mining on approximately 2,200 hectares due to the September 2024 decree that created the Felipe Carrillo Puerto Flora and Fauna Conservation Area on its property, prohibiting all mining activity.
The ruling has been ratified by President Claudia Sheinbaum, who reiterated that Calica will no longer extract materials in that area, despite the fact that its land has not been expropriated and remains registered in the company’s name in the Property and Commercial Registry of the municipality of Playa del Carmen, as verified by this reporter.
Calica is currently settling the most significant dispute at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), where it has been fighting since 2019 under the rules of the USMCA, seeking payment from the Mexican government of more than $1.5 billion for the closures carried out since Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration, but which were escalated by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Source: proceso
