Chinese News Excited About Kampot Deep Water Port

Taken from a popular Chinese language newspaper, published March 4, with the headline “The 100,000-ton Kampot International Deepwater Port was put into use in September this year”. Strangely, there are no accompanying photos of water in the article.

A new deep sea port in Cambodia is almost ready in Gongbu (Kampot) province, south of Bokor Mountain. The water depth of the channel is 13 meters, and the water depth can be 16 meters. The port covers an area of ​​1,600 hectares, enough to meet the import and export demand of 100 million tons of goods. This is the Gongbu/Kampot International Deepwater Port, which was built by China Railway Group Port and Shipping Bureau Group Co., Ltd.

The International Deepwater Port is located in the core area of ​​the planned coastal economic corridor in the south of Cambodia.

It is 160 km from the capital, Phnom Penh, 10 km from Kampot town and 5 km from the entrance of the world-famous Bokor National Nature Reserve and casino.

Opposite it is the China Light Industry Special Economic Zone that has already started construction. The planned Phnom Penh New International Airport is about 110 kilometers from this port.

On May 7th, 2018, the Chinese government provided concessional loans of $200 million for the Phnom Penh-Kampot road expansion project, which will provide a powerful means of transporting goods to and from Kampot.

Some experts said that Kampot is located in the center of ASEAN and the Gulf of Thailand, and, as a sea cargo transportation transit base has a unique location advantage. Moreover, the waterway is 13-16 meters deep and has the conditions for building a deep-water port.

Mr. Cheng Tong, Chairman of the well-known Great Wall Logistics Company in Phnom Penh said: “It takes about 2.5 hours for the container truck to travel from Kampot to Phnom Penh, and the road is smooth and smooth. The transportation cost will be 220 km from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh, and significantly reduced. It is well known that Cambodia’s current high transportation costs have become an investment factor that foreign investors have to consider. Although the government has taken some measures, it cannot solve the problem fundamentally. The completion of the Kampot Port provides an ideal solution for mitigating the high cost of transportation”.

Economic experts have estimated that the import and export volume of Cambodia’s own goods can reach 90 million tons within ten years. Among them, the import and export volume of the cement industry in Kampot Province is not less than 10 million tons, the import of steel products is 10 million tons, the import of other building materials excluding steel is 10 million tons, the export of agricultural products is 10 million tons, the import and export of civilian biological resources is 10 million tons, and industrial raw materials and The import and export of finished products is 30 million tons and the other 10 million tons. The total volume of import and export trade is expected to exceed 80 billion US dollars, or even higher.

The goal of Mr. Huang Hua, an investor in Kampot International Port, is to make Kampot Port the largest basic port in the Gulf of Thailand within 10 years and expand to other logistics and transportation sectors around the world, including cruise terminals and airports, distribution centers, rail services and boat repair facilities.

According to data from Cambodia’s neighboring country, Vietnam’s recently built Ho Chi Minh New Port-Fuyou Port covers an area of ​​only 200 hectares. The designed cargo throughput from 2018 to 2020 is 120 million to 150 million tons. The port conditions of Kampot Port are much better than those in Ho Chi Minh.

After the reform and opening up, Vietnam’s economy has experienced rapid development, and port freight has exploded. In contrast, Cambodia’s economic base is very low and its development rate is not as fast as Vietnam. 

However, the pace of progress in Cambodia is accelerating. More importantly, advanced economies such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan have given Cambodia preferential trade preferential treatment over Vietnam (*possibly not for much longer-CNE).

At the same time, Cambodia’s friendly relations with China, a rising Asian important country, are well known. The trade transactions between the two countries reached US$6 billion in 2017. The leaders of the two countries are committed to pushing the two countries to complete the US$10 billion trade transaction volume in 2023. . Because of the sharp friction between China and ASEAN nations in the South China Sea, there is a huge risk of local conflict, which is a potential risk that global investors have to face.

The China Light Industry Special Economic Zone opposite the new International Port has passed the rigorous EIA review and is ready for development. It is certain that this SAR will be one of the important beneficiaries of Gonbu/Kampot Port, at least for investment projects involving bulk logistics.

At present, the only wharf of Kampot International Port has been put into use, providing convenience for the transportation of coal and other raw materials for several large cement companies in Kampot.

At the same time, the large-scale thermal power plants under construction in the area will provide the port and surrounding investment companies with more reliable and cheaper electricity than the government grid.

Because of this, a steel plant with an initial annual output of 400,000 tons and a scalable manufacturing capacity of 6 million tons will be put into operation in the port area. The equipment has arrived at the scene.

The completion and operation of the Kampot deep-water port has made the idea of ​​Cambodia’s southwest coastal economic corridor, and the idea of ​​becoming a strategic hub of China’s Belt and Road Initiative become a reality. This will benefit all Cambodian people.