PAS plans a new container terminal at Sihanoukville port-
The Cambodian port sector comprises two autonomous ports, three private ports, nine provincial ports, one municipal port, and 42 district ports. At present, container services are operated at the Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh ports.
Sihanoukville port, located at the south end of the Cambodia Growth Corridor and in Preah Sihanouk province, is the sole international deep-sea port in the Kingdom of Cambodia, supporting national economic and industrial activities.
The existing container terminal of Sihanoukville port has a 300 metre long quay and water depth of 6.2 metres (at the lowest water line). The water elevations in the rainy and dry seasons are (+) 9.81 metres and (+) 0.74 metres respectively. At present, general cargo is handled mainly at the existing terminal. The quay of the existing container terminal can accommodate only a limited number of calling vessels because of the difference in seasonal water elevation, waterway conditions, and limited clearance between the bridge and the vessel.
Container traffic at Sihanoukville port steadily increased from 130,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2000 to 392,000 TEUs in 2015. The annual average increase rate from 2014 to 2015 was 17.3 per cent. Besides, the ratio of empty containers to the total container port throughput of import and export in 2015 was 17 per cent and 61 per cent respectively. The exported items in containerised cargo included garments, rice, other agricultural products, and wood and industrial products, with garments having the maximum share in the exported items.
The operating body of the port, the Port Authority of Sihanoukville (PAS) has a short-term plan to strengthen the handling capacity by having additional cranes.
In view of this, the development of a new container terminal and associated structures in the Sihanoukville port has been planned as a yen-loan project of Sihanoukville port’s New Container Terminal Development Project. The agencies involved in the project are the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Project details
The major components of the project include construction of a new container terminal, construction of an access road including an access bridge, dredging of the channel and basin, construction of a major terminal building, construction of a customs inspection yard, and procurement of cargo handling equipment and a terminal operation system among others. The project will increase the handling capacity of the port one and a half times, by approximately 450,000 TEUs, and allow it to accommodate bigger vessels.
In August 2017, the Japan International Cooperation Agency signed a loan agreement with the Government of Cambodia to provide a low-interest loan of up to 23.502 billion yen ($209 million) for the container terminal project. The loan, which has a 40-year term with an annual interest charge of 0.01 per cent, will be used to pay for the new container terminal, access roadwork, dredging, cargo handling equipment and consulting services.
The new container terminal will be developed in three phases: Phase I will be completed over the medium term while Phases II and III will be part of the long-term plan.
Short-term plan
The objective of the short-term plan is to install handling equipment for the existing container terminal, and to develop the multi-purpose terminal and off dock yard. The target year of the short-term plan is 2023. The targeted annual handling capacity of containers is around 800,000 TEUs.
Medium-term plan and long-term plan
In the medium-term and long-term plans, new container terminals will be developed in three phases to cope with the estimated incremental demand of containerised cargo. The yard and berth of Phase I are planned to be constructed by 2023 as part of the medium-term plan. The remaining two yards and berths will be constructed consecutively in the long-term plan in order to cope with further increases in demand.
Extra-long-term plan and future plan
The main idea of the extra-long-term plan is to develop a port-related area and to arrange the inhabited area for fisherfolk by planning reclamation of the inner area of the existing breakwater. Thus, congestion between large-sized vessels and small-sized fishing boats will be reduced and port safety will be improved. In the future plan, Sihanoukville port aims to enhance the marine logistics base as the main port of Cambodia. The outer area of the existing breakwater will be developed to cope with the growing vessel sizes.
Future plans
Besides the container terminal, the multi-purpose terminal development is another prioritised project of PAS to help encourage various fields of agriculture, agro-industry, industry and trade, especially for the export of Cambodian agricultural products such as dried tapioca and dried bulk cargo. It also aims to provide logistics services for offshore oil exploration in the Territory of Cambodian Sea as well as for the economic growth of Cambodia. The main facilities includes a 330 metre long and 13.50 metre deep multi-purpose terminal, a 200 metre long terminal for an oil exploration logistics base, a dry bulk cargo storage yard of 28,000 square metres, a coal storage yard of 13,000 square metres and other main port facilities.
Conclusion
Cambodia occupies 4 per cent of the land area in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region and accounts for 2.5 per cent of the total population of ASEAN countries. However, Cambodia’s share of gross domestic product, external trade and foreign direct investment is still low.
The Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency Phase II is the socio economic policy agenda of the Government of Cambodia. It was established after the general elections of 2008 and was aimed at achieving national goals, recognising that the transport network plays a role as a prime mover of economic growth. Although Sihanoukville port is not specifically referred to in the Rectangular Strategy Phase II, high priority has been put in the strategy on infrastructure development including port expansion.
