The Phase III expansion of Cambodia's Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, with a total investment of $973 million, is accelerating construction. Upon completion, cargo throughput will increase by 7 times, significantly optimizing direct China-Cambodia shipping efficiency, reducing cross-border logistics transshipment costs, and empowering regional trade development in Southeast Asia.
Recently, the Phase III expansion project of Cambodia's Sihanoukville Autonomous Port entered full construction. The project leverages Japanese concessional loans, with a total investment of $973 million, and is being implemented in multiple phases. The long-term plan aims to increase the port's overall cargo handling capacity by 7 times by 2050, striving to reverse the current situation where Cambodia's foreign trade goods have long relied on transshipment through Vietnamese and Thai ports, establishing Sihanoukville Port as a highly competitive deep-sea shipping hub in Indochina.
The first phase of this expansion has an investment of $243 million, planning to build a 120.2 km berth, with channel depth upgraded to 14.5 meters. After completion, the port's annual container design throughput capacity will reach 1.25 million TEUs, capable of accommodating ultra-large ocean-going container vessels, significantly enhancing the port's ability to attract international ocean routes. Subsequent phases two and three will sequentially construct multi-purpose bulk cargo berths, specialized oil terminals, and cold chain storage industrial parks, improving handling and storage facilities for various bulk commodities, fully matching the import and export shipping needs of construction materials, photovoltaic equipment, rubber, grains, energy and chemical products, large engineering machinery, etc.
Previously, the vast majority of Cambodia's foreign trade import and export goods had to be transshipped via Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Port and Thailand's Laem Chabang Port, which not only extended overall logistics transit time but also continuously pushed up the comprehensive logistics costs for foreign trade enterprises through transshipment fees, storage fees, and inland trucking fees. With the continuous expansion of deep-water berths at Sihanoukville Port and the successive launch of multiple direct China-Cambodia shipping routes, foreign trade enterprises in China can ship goods directly from major domestic ports to Sihanoukville Port, eliminating the need for transshipment through third countries. The comprehensive logistics cost per container can be reduced by over 20%, while cargo transit time is significantly guaranteed, effectively avoiding operational risks such as cargo damage and delays caused by transshipment.
As Cambodia's largest foreign trade hub port, Sihanoukville Port has seen continuously rising cargo data in recent years. Latest statistics show that the port's total revenue for the previous fiscal year was $151 million, a year-on-year increase of 34.8%; container throughput reached 1.23 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 25.7%. Garments, home textiles, household goods, photovoltaic modules, rubber, grains, etc., are the main cargo types in China-Cambodia bilateral shipping. The strong trade demand also forces the port to continuously upgrade hardware infrastructure to match the growing freight volume.
The dividends from port infrastructure upgrades will radiate across the entire cross-border industry chain. With the deep-water and large-scale development of Sihanoukville Port, more international shipping companies will add direct China-Cambodia routes and intra-Southeast Asia feeder routes, further enriching shipping options. Meanwhile, local freight forwarding, warehousing, inland trucking, customs brokerage, and other supporting logistics industries will usher in new development opportunities. The continuously improving land-sea intermodal transport network will continue to unleash the logistics advantages of China-Cambodia economic and trade cooperation.
Industry logistics analysts said that the implementation of the Phase III expansion of Sihanoukville Port not only consolidates Cambodia's maritime foundation for opening up but also strengthens Cambodia's locational competitive advantage in the Indochina Peninsula. In the future, with the continuous improvement of port supporting facilities and the ongoing optimization of customs clearance and business environment, Sihanoukville Port is expected to attract more regional transshipment cargo, gradually growing into an important cross-border trade distribution center in Southeast Asia, continuously contributing to the high-quality development of economic integration in the Indochina Peninsula region.
