Quashing hopes of opening the Phnom Penh Port for the high trade season that begins in July, the port’s director said the pace of construction would push the official launch date into next year.

If the speed of construction was inceased in order to open before the high season, there could be an impact on the quality of operations later, port general director Hei Bavy said.

He said the actual launch would be at the end of this year or early next year.

The delay would not have an impact on business because the capacity of the existing facilities had been enlarged in preparation, Hei Bavy said.

The US$28 million port, in the Keansvay district of Kandal province, will be able to load 120,000 containers (TEUs) a year.

Construction began in early 2010 and it was 90 per cent completed, Hei Bavy said.

Nor would the delay affect the transportation of goods in Cambodia because of the existing port and the Sihanoukville port, Sin Channy, the director-general of Linehaul Express, said yesterday.

Sin Channy said he supported the delay.

The Cambodia Freight Forwarders Association has 27 member companies that use the Phnom Penh Port for as much as 30 per cent of their transportation.

Cargo via the Phnom Penh Port increased by 11 per cent in 2012 to 17,386 TEUs from 15,652 TEUs last year, according to port statistics.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sieam Bunthy at [email protected]