Sihanoukville (FN), June 25 – Speaking at the inauguration of the $74 million Sihanoukville autonomous port’s multi-purpose terminal on Monday, Minister of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol said that Cambodia planned to build another 350-meter port in late 2019, in response to a gradual growth of trade from year to year.

The minister reminded that during the visit of Prime Minister Hun Sen to Japan in 2017, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port signed an exchange of note and concessional agreement CP-P21 between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Government of Japan on the construction of this multi-purpose terminal with a total amount of $203 million.

The port, to complete in early 2023, is able to accommodate 60,000 tons of containers, an equivalent to 93% of ships in the Asia-Pacific, according to the Ministry.

Sihanoukville autonomous port will become an intermediate port that will welcome over one million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) per year, which is the volume of a 6.1 meter intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box that can be easily transferred between modes of transportation, such as ships, trains and trucks. Special than this, Cambodia’s cost of shipping will be lower, compared to neighboring countries.

According to Minister Sun Chanthol, over the last five years, the number of containers at the Cambodian autonomous port has grown by an average of 12.6%, equivalent to 459,839 TEUs. For the first 5 months of 2018, the number of containers reached 207,047 TEUs, an increase of 19.6% compared to first five months of 2017.
=FRESH NEWS