Japan Provides Us$209 Million Loan to Expand Sihanoukville Deep Water Seaport

• 7 March 2019
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Sihanoukville Autonomous Port credit: MPWT

The expansion project for Sihanoukville deep water seaport is expected to start construction this year, after Japanese government confirmed the provision of a US$209 million loan according to the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia webpage on 05 March 2019.

The expansion will be undertaken by building a new terminal which will be 14.5 metres deep with 350 metres of frontage. Together with the existing terminals, this new terminal will allow Sihanoukville sea port to be capable of receiving vessels of more than 60,000 tons or equal to about 93% of the whole number of vessels in Asia-Pacific. (read more)

After the completion of the project in early 2023, the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port will become an intermediate-scale standard port with the capacity to handle more than 1.29 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) per year. The Cambodian government also plans to lower the crossing fee to the Cambodia Sea, which will make Cambodia’s logistic system become more competitive compared to neighbouring countries.

During the feasibility study on the work at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port from 04 to 05 March, H.E Phay Rithy, Deputy Director-General of the Royal Government of Sihanoukville, said that the port had been extended once through help from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which started in 1999 and ended in 2004. Currently, the port is 11 metres deep and can accommodate 4,560 containers.

In addition, the government of Cambodia last year (2018) also officially inaugurated another new multi-purpose terminal which comprises of a 330-metre fronted retail terminal (13.5 metres deep), a 200-metre logistics supply for oil exploration (7.5 metres deep), and tugboat supplies. This project was also funded JICA with a US$74 million budget. (Read more)

Currently, the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port is the only deep water seaport in the country and has been recognised as a major trading gateway to help boost national economic growth. It operates on 125 hectares of land and is equipped with high-tech infrastructures to help support all kinds of cargo handling. Over the last five years, the number of containers has grown by an average of 11% annually.

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