Muelle de Progreso

The pier of Progreso, also called the Muelle Fiscal or Muelle de Altura, is the long concrete causeway that carries Yucatán's main port out to sea from the beach in the centre of Progreso, about 35 km north of Mérida. The sea off this coast is so shallow that big ships cannot come near the shore, so the docks had to be built far out in the Gulf. In July 2023, during the port's 152nd anniversary, Guinness World Records certified the structure as the longest pier in the world, at 8,018.98 metres.

The pier was built in stages. Work on the first concrete pier began in the late 1930s under President Lázaro Cárdenas, as part of a national plan to modernise ports; sources give the start as 1937 or 1939, and it was in service by 1941, when it let larger ships dock at Progreso for the first time. Its long row of arches, reaching about 2 km into the sea, is the part most people photograph from the beach, and it marked its 85th anniversary in September 2026. A customs building began operating in 1945. From 1 July 1985 the port was extended much farther out, and the Terminal Remota opened on 6 October 1989 about 6.5 km offshore, joined to land by a 4.5 km viaduct; further dredging and new port areas followed in 1999–2000. A new parallel viaduct beside the fiscal pier was built between 2014 and 2018.

The port is still growing: dredging for a new expansion ran from August 2025 to March 2026, a private phase that improves the cruise area so larger ships can berth was reported complete in September 2026, and new platforms are planned to take the port area from about 34 to 114 hectares. Cruise ships dock at the far end and their passengers are brought ashore along the pier. The pier itself is a working port and closed to pedestrians, but it dominates the view from the malecón and the beach on both sides of it, and at night its arches are lit up.