Sihaoukville Autonomous Port saw an annualised 14 percent increase on freight shipments in the first three months of 2011, officials said.

Port Deputy Director General Ma Sun Hot said the increases in shipments of most categories of goods, though imports of oil products decreased in the first quarter.

“We saw that everything jumped in the first quarter,” he said, adding shipments would likely continue to increase over the course of the year.

Some 53,950 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) were shipped through the port in the first three months, up 14.4 percent from 47,170 TEUs in the same period last year.

Coal shipments in particular increased during the period, with the port shipping 40,000 tonnes, from 23,000 tonnes during the same period last year, he said. Sihanoukville Port had also handled more shipments of garments, rice, vehicles, machinery, and construction material, as well as 10,000 tonnes of acacia wood bound for China.

However, oil products dropped, with 163,808 tonnes imported through the port, a 3.1 percent decline on oil imports in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, So Nguon Group saw an increase of about 3 percent year on year for its haulage business so far in 2011, said President So Nguon, adding the growth came largely through increased garment business.