Sihanoukville

FREIGHT shipments through Sihanoukville Autonomous Port saw year-on-year growth of more than 14 percent in the second quarter of the year, according to official SAP figures.

The total number of twenty-foot equivalent units that passed through the port rose 112,594 in the first six months, up 8.6 percent from 103,624 TEUs compared with the same period last year, SAP said.

The port saw large increases in the shipment of goods such as garment products, rice, coal, vehicles and machinery and construction materials between January and June, according to SAP Deputy

Director General Ma Sun Hout.

“It has changed in the last two years, with everything increasing in 2011,” he said.

We believe shipments through the port will continue to rise,” he said.

He added that an average 94,460 tonnes of coal are now exported to China each month, a 49 percent increase on the 63,373 tonnes shipped in the same period last year.

However, oil exports declined 0.23 percent to 319,285 tonnes, he said. SAP officials estimated that freight shipments through the port will increase around 9 percent to 2.4 million tonnes for the year, compared to 2.2 million tonnes in 2010.

A number of companies operating at the southern port are also confident that the trend will continue.

Chinese wood-processing company Greenrich Group Co, which operates at SAP, expect exports to China to double in the next year.

“The demand for acacia wood from China is increasing every year, so we will double our production in the next year,” said company representative Say Sok Shean. The company, which exports approximately 25 tonnes to China each day, aims to plant an additional 1,000 hectares of acacia in Koh Kong province to meet the growing demand, he added.

Cambodia’s largest trucking company, So Nguon Group, reported a 25 percent increase in vehicles on the road, but were unable to provide details on the number of containers currently operating.

“In the first six months, our transport increased 25 percent and we hope to see further growth of 30 percent in the third quarter of 2011,” President So Nguon said, citing a rise in garment exports as the main factor.

“Our company export textiles to Europe, United States and Canada.”

He added that the company also imports and exports construction materials.