Note: This is a new development, not to be confused with a smaller port designed for tourists which is also being constructed in Kampot province, financed by the ADB (Asian Development Bank).

Mega Investment Port Breaks Ground in Kampot Province
AKP Phnom Penh, May 05, 2022 --
The logistics centre and multi-purpose port investment project in Kampot province was launched on Thursday with an investment capital of US$1,500 million.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held in Bokor city on May 5 under the presidency of Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Chea Sophara, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction; H.E. Sun Chanthol, Senior Minister, Minister of Public Works and Transport, as well as provincial leaders and relevant stakeholders.

Built on an area of 600 hectares in Prek Tnaot commune, Bokor city, Kampot province, the project, invested by Kampot Logistics and Port Co. Ltd., will significantly contribute to Cambodia's maritime transport and logistics development.

The mega investment project is planned to be carried out in three phases. The first one would cost an investment capital of about US$200 million.

The project includes container grounds, special economic zones, free trade zones, logistics centre, warehouses, manufacturing and distribution plants, refineries and fuel centres, residential and tourist areas.

The multi-purpose port location has a water depth of about 15 metres and can accommodate ships of 100,000 tonnes. It will have the capacity to handle about 300,000 TEUs in and out by 2025 and about 600,000 TEUs by 2030.

Speaking at the function, H.E. Chea Sophara said that the Kampot logistics centre and multi-purpose port are the opening of a new page in the history of Kampot and Cambodia.

The project is the first large international project ever invested by a local private company that will meet the needs of economic and social development, although Cambodia has already two major state ports –Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, as well as some private ports, H.E. Chea Sophara stressed.

“We hope that the Kampot logistics centre and multi-purpose port investment project will enhance Cambodia's logistics and port services to be more diverse and competitive with neighbouring ports,” he said.

The Royal Government of Cambodia is preparing a "Master Plan for the Development of Sihanoukville into a Multi-Purpose Special Economic Zone" set out in the Cambodian Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025, he added, underlining that the Kampot logistics centre and multi-purpose port investment project will also play an important role in helping to successfully implement this master plan, which will help turn Cambodia into a high-middle-income economy by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.

The deep seaport is located in a favorable area for connecting water, land and rail transportation systems to Phnom Penh and provinces through National Roads No. 3, No. 41, No. 4, Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, National Road No. 48 and connecting the southern railway (Southern Line) to the Northern Line of the country.
- AKP
By Chea Vannak

Cambodia begins construction of US$1.5bil seaport in southwest province
Thursday, 05 May 2022
4:01 PM MYT

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia started to build a US$1.5-billion logistics and multi-purpose seaport on Thursday (May 5) in the southwestern Kampot province, aiming to enhance the kingdom's logistics and transportation sector, officials said.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony in Bokor city, Deputy Prime Minister Chea Sophara, who is also minister of land management, urban planning and construction, said the project is invested by local company Kampot Logistics and Port and the construction is undertaken by the Shanghai Construction Group and the China Road and Bridge Corporation.

"This multi-purpose port will be a new international gateway to facilitate Cambodia's trade with other countries," he said in a speech live broadcast on social media.

"It will significantly contribute to boosting our economic growth," he added.

Built on a total area of 600 hectares, the port with a depth of 15 metres will be able to accommodate vessels weighing up to 100,000 tonnes.

Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said the 15-year project is estimated to cost $1.5 billion and the development has been divided into three phases.

The first phase from 2022 to 2025 is expected to cost $200 million, he said.

"This mega-project includes a container terminal, a special economic zone, a free trade area, a logistics hub, an oil refinery, and a terminal for tourist vessels, among others," said the minister.

The port will be capable of handling 300,000 TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) in 2025 and up to 600,000 TEUs in 2030, he said, adding that it will create some 10,000 direct and indirect jobs when it is put into use.

According to the minister, it will be the third largest port in the South-East Asian country after the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port.
https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/as ... t-province

Photos of the project launching ceremony from Fresh News website (5 May 2022):

[CEO News comment: While there is some repetition in the articles that have been posted on this thread today, there are also added bits of information and/or information that is with-held in the different pieces which may interest some readers.]
Long read from Fresh News, English version:

Cambodia to Build a $1.5B International Standard Port in Kampot
Created: 05 May 2022
Kampot (FN), May 5 – A new international deep sea port in Kampot province began its construction with a capital investment of USD 1.5 billion. Located on an area of up to 600 hectares, Kampot deep sea port is expected to be a major artery for Cambodia's maritime transport.

The groundbreaking ceremony of the new international deep sea port held on Thursday (5 May) under the chairmanship of the minister of Cambodian land management, urban planning and construction Chea Sophara and the minister of Cambodian public works and transport Sun Chanthol.

The port named "Kampot Logistics Centre and Multipurpose Port" is invested by Kampot Logistics and Port Company Limited. This port is located in Bokor City, Kampot Province.

“This investment area is high potential for logistics centers and multi-purpose ports, which is rich in natural advantages such as deep-sea area and less affected by natural disasters. More importantly, this company already built a waterway transport,” Cambodian public works and transport minister Sun Chanthol said.

Chanthol raised the favorable conditions of the port location as it is located in an area that is suitable for connecting water, land and rail transportation systems to Phnom Penh and other provinces through National Road No. 3, National Road No. 41, National Road No. 4, Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, National Road No. 48 and connecting the southern railway to the northern of the country.

The minister continued, this giant investment project has three phases with a total investment capital of about USD 1.5 billion, while approximately USD 200 million has been spent for the first phase.

Sun Chanthol added, the project will include: container fields, special economic zones, free trade zones, logistics centers, all types of warehouses, customs warehouses, manufacturing and distribution plants, refineries and fuel centers, residential areas and tourist ferries, as well as ferries station that connect to the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port in case the Royal Government develops road, navigation projects and Tonle Bassac Logistics system.

In addition, the location of the multi-purpose port has a water depth of about 15 meters with a capacity to dock up to 100,000-ton ship. The multi-purpose port will have the capacity to stock import-export products of about 300,000 TEU in 2025 and about 600,000 TEUs by 2030.

This investment project will play an important role in sending import-export goods to the international market, which will bring convenience and high efficiency for traders and investors in exporting agricultural, industrial and fishery products to regional and global markets.

In addition, this project will also contribute to the development of the logistics and port sector in the kingdom, which help improve the citizens’ living standards and the development of the national economy to achieve the expected economic growth, especially to help the Royal Government to achieve goal of upgrading from an upper middle-income country by 2030 to a high-income country by 2050.

Chea Sophara considered "Kampot Logistics Center and Multipurpose Port" as the opening of a new page in the history of Cambodia and the Kampot province itself. He considered the project to be the first large international project under the investment of a local private company that meet the requirement of economic and social development, although Cambodia has two major national ports, namely Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port.

"We hope that the Kampot Multipurpose Logistics and Port Development Investment Project will enhance Cambodia's logistics and port services to be more diverse and competitive with neighboring ports,” Chea Sophara underlined.

Mr. Rithiya Eng, [05-May-22 12:32 PM]
The minister added, the Royal Government of Cambodia is preparing the "Master Plan for Sihanoukville Multi-Purpose Special Economic Zone", which has set out in the Cambodian Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025. Therefore, the Kampot Logistics and Port Development and Investment Development Project will also play an important role in contributing to the successful implementation of the master plan, which will help turn Cambodia into an upper middle-income country by 2030 to a high-income country by 2050.

The minister continued, the investment project for the development of Kampot Logistics and Port Center will provide direct and indirect employment opportunities to about 10,000 people when the investment project is completed and put into operation in the near future.

“The Kampot Logistics and Port Investment Project, and Kampot Port will also actively contribute to the implementation of the "Master Plan on Multipurpose Transport and Logistics Connectivity". In addition, this investment project will also help meet the coastal development goals of the National Committee for Coastal Management and Development of Cambodia,” Chea Sophara added.
=FRESH NEWS
http://en.freshnewsasia.com/index.php/e ... 37-03.html

Bassac sea-link to reach Kampot seaport: ministry
01 February 2023 | 21:40 ICT
[excerpts]
A key study on a proposed waterway link from the Bassac River to the sea in the Kampot-Kep region has been completed, the transport ministry reported, revealing plans for the project to connect to a “seaport” in Kampot province, igniting hopes for a solid pop in economic growth for the Kingdom.

News of the project was shared by a Ministry of Public Works and Transport statement released in conjunction with a January 30 meeting between minister Sun Chanthol and Rajeev Kannan, co-head of the Asia Pacific division at Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC).

Although not explicitly named, the “seaport” is most likely the International Multi-Purpose Logistics and Port Centre, which broke ground in May on a 600ha plot of seafront land with water depth of 15m, in Prek Tnaot commune, Bokor town, Kampot. The project is expected to cost $1.5 billion – mainly invested by Kampot Logistics and Port Co Ltd – and accommodate ships weighing up to 100,000 tonnes.

The linked Bassac River Navigation and Logistics System (“BRNLS”) project aims to provide a viable and efficient alternative for waterway passenger and freight traffic to enter and exit the Kingdom – without passing through Vietnam – that also reduces transportation and logistics costs.

Although not directly confirmed, the study appears to be the same one that the ministry mentioned in December, saying that it was working on it with the Chinese state-backed China Road and Bridge Corp (CRBC) and CCCC Water Transportation Consultants Co Ltd, in the second of an undisclosed number of phases.

Although no starting point for the waterway link on the Bassac River has been officially announced, the ministry previously mentioned southeastern Kandal’s Prek Ambel village as a contender. And indeed, there is a distributary there, at GPS coordinates (11.243N, 105.026E), that flows southwest.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ ... t-ministry

Tonle Bassac-Kampot Will Change the Face of Cambodia's Transport
On Friday, March 3, 2023

Cambodia News, Phnom Penh: On March 3, Senior Minister Sun Chanthol, Minister of Public Works and Transport, chaired a meeting between the General Department of Inland Waterway Transport and Ports and the China Bridge and Road Corporation (CRBC) on the results of the feasibility study of the Tonle Bassac Navigation Road and Logistics Project, which is almost complete.
At the same time, the results of hydrological studies as well as economic and financial studies were also completed and presented to the meeting on this occasion.


According to the results of the feasibility study, there is no technical or environmental obstruction to the project of a waterway navigation system connecting the Tonle Bassac River to the seaport of Kampot province, with a total length of 180 kilometers.

In addition, the Tonle Bassac Navigation and Logistics System will reduce the increasing amount of heavy transport on the national roads between Phnom Penh and the coast, as well as expanding the possibilities for trade within the region and internationally, by increasing the ease of transporting large volumes of goods while decreasing the costs.
Photos KampucheaThmey

This is an obvious P.L.A.N. by the ChiCom. If they are ever in dispute with the Cambodian government they can sail some of their Ream based aircraft carriers up to Phnom Penh for negotiations.

It worked for the French in Bangkok.

Right now past 10 days they went north of nataya beach and ripped open the river to the ocean....so far only that? u think we still gonna have oysters?
that strip is only 60km of shoreline lol

Chinese Firm Granted License to Build Large International Deep-Sea Port in Kampot Province
AKP Phnom Penh, May 05, 2023 --

Kampot Logistics and Port Company Limited (KLP) and China Harbour Engineering Company LTD (CHEC) signed a construction contract on May 5 for Kampot multi-purpose port in Kampot province after a year of soil and infrastructure foundation preparation.

The signing ceremony of the construction contract was held under the witness of H.E Sun Chanthol, Senior Minister, Minister of Public Works and Transport, and representatives of the firms.

According to a report from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, the construction project is divided into three phases with a total investment of about US$1.5 billion.

Some US$200 million will be invested in the first phase of the project.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the international deep-sea port was held in May last year under presidency of Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Chea Sophara, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.

The multi-purpose port will have the capacity to handle throughputs of 300,000 TEUs by 2025 and increase to 600,000 TEUs by 2030.

The project will include container grounds, special economic zones, free trade zones, logistics centre, warehouses of all kinds including customs warehouses, manufacturing and distribution plants, refineries and fuel centre, residential and tourist areas, and passenger terminals.

H.E. Sun Chanthol said the investment project to develop the Kampot Logistics and Multipurpose Centre will be another large and deep-sea port in Cambodia and an international modern port in the ASEAN region.

The project will complement the existing ports such as Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port and help promote the successful implementation of the master plan to develop Sihanoukville into a multi-purpose special economic zone in line with the policy of industrial development of Cambodia 2015-2025, he added.
- AKP
By Chea Vannak