Phnom Penh export volume up 46pc

EXPORT container volume through the Port of Phnom Penh increased 46 per cent in the first 10 months of 2010 year on year, reports Deutsche Press Argentur, citing Cambodian state media.

Phnom Penh port deputy director Eang Veng Sun told the Cambodia Daily newspaper that the presence of the Cai Mep deepwater port in southern Vietnam, which opened last year, helped boost trade.

Cambodian export containers are loaded at Vietnam's Cai Mep can sail directly to Europe and the United States, Cambodia's two key export markets, but those leaving Cambodia's southern seaport of Sihanoukville must be transshipped at Singapore or Hong Kong.

Mr Eang said 52,431 TEU containers had left through Phnom Penh this year, compared with nearly 36,000 in the same period of 2009.

Port director Hei Bavy said a new Chinese-funded facility located outside Phnom Penh and designed to boost capacity is on track for completion by mid-2012.

Mr Hei said the US$28 million terminal would be able to handle 300,000 TEU, four times the capacity of Phnom Penh's port.

Cambodia's infrastructure has experienced major upgrades. Last month, a 110-kilometre railway line re-opened after years of war and neglect had closed it.

The railway is scheduled to be fully operational by 2015. When completed, it is to link Cambodia with Vietnam and Thailand, closing the last remaining gap in the rail link between Singapore and China, said the report.
(Source:www.schednet.com)