By:
• Teng Yalirozy

• September 12, 2024 , 3:15 PM

PHNOM PENH – A new container terminal costing nearly $40 million at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) has been inaugurated after 17 months of construction. 

It is a part of the expansion and construction of the container terminals project, estimated to be worth nearly $1 billion, to develop PAS. Cambodia and Japan have agreed to develop the port as a hub and logistics base.

This 11.5m-deep terminal was expanded from a retail cargo port, adding capacity to 450,000 TEUs annually, and was completed in Aug. 2024. 

It is equipped with container handling equipment, including two QC loading containers and six RTG loading containers,  which enhances port capacity by 35 percent. 

Minister of Public Works and Transport Peng Ponea said that with this terminal, PAS will increase its capacity from 550,000 TEUs a year to one million TEUs per year and can allow 10.4 meter-deep vessels to dock.

This terminal cost $37.5 million with about $10 million concession loan from  Japan, $27.5 million from PAS’s revenue and other funds from the government, he said.

The terminal was built by the Japanese company TOA Corporation and technically supervised by Nippon Koei and Oriental Consultants Global.

Prime Minister Hun Manet said that this additional terminal will provide additional options to help fulfil the function of the PAS before it achieves the three phases of the new deep-water container port, which is set to be finished in 2029.

The additional terminal would increase the port’s capacity to handle the proportion of the world’s shipping from 18 percent to about 38 percent and 49.25 percent of the vessels operating in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Expansion of Sihanoukville Autonomous Port Capacity is to strengthen Cambodia's economic base,” he said.

The port handled 800,000 TEUs in 2023 with 1,506 vessels traveling in and out of the port, carryingabout  19 million tonnes of goods and generating more than $95 million.

In the first seven months of 2024, 5.7  million tonne of goods passed through the port,  26.52 percent more than the same period last year.

The container volume amounted to 520,000 TEUs, an increase of 26.18 percent, generating about  $66  million.

“Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Cambodia's only deep-sea port, significantly contributes to the country's development through daily business revenue from the increasing volume of goods and containers passing through,” Prime Minister Hun Manet said.

Three Terminal Phases

PAS significantly contributes to the nation's growth and development, generating substantial revenue growth annually.

Japan is helping Cambodia to develop the port, with a project cost of $973 million, including about $700 million from Japan and the remains amount from the government and the port’s generated revenue.

The first phase of a new deep-water container port construction started last December, is expected to cost about $243 million and will be completed in 2026. It is expected to be operational at the beginning of 2027.

The 350m-long and 14.5m-deep port will accommodate vessels weighing 60,000 tonnes or of 4,000 TEU capacity from ports in the Asia-Pacific region, increasing the port's capacity to 1.25 million TEUs annually.

Phase two, starting in 2025 and ending in 2028, will enable 120,000-tonne container vessels to transport goods to Sihanoukville, increasing port capacity to over 1.8 million TEUs annually.

The third phase will start construction in 2026 and finish in 2029. After the third phase, the port will be able to receive container vessels with a capacity of 160,000 tonnes, or 15,000 TEUs. The container port will increase its capacity to about 2.5 million TEUs per year.

The construction of the second and third phases is projected to cost $698 million, with over $500 million from Japanese concessional loans and over $100 million from Cambodia.

Ambassador of Japan  Ueno Atsushi said PAS has always been the center of Japan-Cambodia cooperation, recalling that Japan and Cambodia have agreed to develop a port to fulfil their potential as the largest port in Cambodia and a regional hub.

“I promise the people of Cambodia that the government of Japan will continue to cooperate with Cambodia on further expansion and the improvement of Sihanoukville port,” he said.