Port sees revenues increase this year

[PHNOM PENH POST]

Sihanoukville Autonomous Port revenues increased more than 16 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2011, according to port officials.

Cambodia’s largest port generated US$21 million in revenues between January and August, up from $18 million in the same period last year, SAP director general Lou Kim Chhun said yesterday.

“We have seen port revenues increase this year, as the number of freight shipments continue to grow, especially agricultural products.”

The agriculture products included rice, rubber, textiles, footwear, acacia wood and machinery, he said. Freight shipments through the port rose 14 percent in the first eight months of the year, compared to the same period last year, according to figures obtained by the Post yesterday. A breakdown of the figures showed that total shipments of TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) hit 156,420 in the period, a seven-percent increase year-on-year on last year’s 146,260 TEUs.

“We saw everything increase in the first eight months of 2011. We strongly believe that shipments through the port will continue to increase more in this year,” Lou Kim Chhun said.

The shipment of acacia wood was one of the most notable increases, with a total of 400,000 tonnes leaving the port, a 60 percent increase from 250,000 tonnes in the first eight months of the 2010. Lou Kim Chhun said that total freight shipments through the port to increase nine percent in 2011, with an estimated 2.5 million tonnes, compared to last year’s total of 2.2 million tonnes.