IT was not that long ago that when one mentioned the name Cambodia, it would conjure up in one’s mind some very unflattering images. It was a country torn apart by war, and was also the site of some of the worst crimes against humanity in the 20th century. 
    But the country is turning from its dark past into a brighter, promising future. Part of this brighter future is the growth of the Southeast Asian nation’s shipping sector.
    Speaking in the early part of last year at a ground breaking ceremony for a second container terminal at the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP), Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told those in attendance of the prospects for his country in the “coming years”...
    "We will have more goods for export, besides garment exports, we will have agricultural products and we have already opened market w ith China on rice, cassava and other products, so it will facilitate Cambodia’s exports to China and other countries,” he said.
    The new terminal, which is slated for completion in the latter half of next year, is being aided by Chinese technical and financial assistance.
    Total capacity of the new terminal is said to be around 120,000 TEU. While small in comparison with other leading shipping nations in the region, it is a major step forward for this emerging economy, which is preparing for an increase in throughput in the coming years. 
    It will almost certainly herald Phnom Penh’s determined yet sometimes glacial push for quick, seamless integration into the transportation nodes of the rest of the South East Asian peers ahead of the Association of South East Asian (ASEAN) common market slated for 2015.
    In reports obtained by The Container Shipping Manager shipments into the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PAPP) rose 31 per cent, year on year in 2011. Shipments, or rather containerised shipments, also rose in its other port of Sihanoukville. Taken together, they do, perhaps lend credence to Hun Sen’s prognosis of what the coming years will signal for Cambodia.
    For instance, in acknowledgement of Cambodia’s growing containerised cargo profile China’s Shanghai Construction (Group) General Company –the very company that built the Shanghai World Financial Centre—has lent Cambodia some US$29million to build the 10-hectare,120,000 TEU facility, according to a report in the People’s Daily.

(source:BSAA)