THE general director at state-run Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, which is set to list on Cambodia’s planned stock exchange, expects its revenues to increase 7 percent this year.

Lou Kim Chun said yesterday that the revenue from transport services at the coastal transport hub was expected to increase by 7 percent on the $28.42 million garnered last year. Estimated revenue would top $30 million.

“We hope that this year the income will go up because amount of goods exchanged through our port in January was better compared to last year,” he said yesterday.

Independent economic analyst Huot Pom said that he expected 2011 to see an increase in freight transported through the Kingdom, due to the government’s policy to boost rice exports and bolster industry. He expected trade in agricultural produce and imports of construction equipment to increase.

According to a port report, January saw 18,349 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled by the port, an 10.74 percent increase on the same period of last year. In 2010, the port saw TEUs handled rise 7.24 percent increase on 2009. Last month, SBI Phnom Penh Securities was selected as the underwriter for the port’s IPO.