Cargo shipments via Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP), Cambodia’s second largest port, rose by 16 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months.

The Port Authority said yesterday the rise was mainly due to the increase of import and export activities for garments, agricultural and construction materials.

The official data from the port showed that the port received about 70,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) between January to the end of September this year, an increase 16 per cent, from 60,000 TEUs in the same period last year.

Hei Bavy, the port’s director general, said that the improvement in Cambodia’s economy and the recovery of the global economy are the reasons for the increase in imports and exports.

“Of course, the increase of shipment through our port emphasises that our economy is growing,” he said. “This year, I have seen increases in agricultural and garment exports.”

He also noticed increases in the import of raw garment materials, construction materials and consumer products.

The port has seen an increase in the shipment of agricultural products to Russia, China, Indonesia and especially South Korea. With the increase in demand, the PPAP spent about US$68 million – a soft loan from the Chinese government – to build a new port container terminal in Kandal province.

The first phase of the new port will be launched in December. The new terminal will be able to load 300,000 TEUs per year. The current terminal can load 70,000 TEUs per year.

The PPAP’s revenue rose by 20 per cent year-on-year to $8.25 million in 2011 from $6.5 million in 2010.

The port also expressed plans to be listed on the Cambodian Securities Exchange by the end of next year in a bid to raise more capital for expanding the port capacity.

To contact the reporter on this story: May Kunmakara at [email protected]