The state-run authority which manages the port has been tipped as being set to list on Cambodia’s upcoming stock exchange. Meanwhile, Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, the Kingdom’s second largest port, received total revenues of $6.5 million in 2010, up from just $1.5 million in 2009. Representatives of both ports told The Post yesterday that the gains were due to an increase of shipments in 2010 from a year earlier. Hei Bavy, director of Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, said yesterday freight shipped through the port had soared around 44 percent, from 62,256 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units in 2010, up from 43,312 TEU in 2009. “I hope that the port will generate more income this year because better economic recovery requires more demand for goods,” he said. He highlighted the growing potential of shipments of agricultural products, construction materials, clothes, raw materials for the garment sector and other commodities during 2011. Ma Sun Hout, deputy director of Sihanoukville’s port, said that total shipments in 2010 were 2.217 million tonnes, a rise of about 18 percent on 2009. “We still hope to receive more shipments this year because it signals a positive economic environment,” he said.

Charleston’s container volume in December totaled 62,405 pier containers, up 9.7 percent from the same month in 2009 (56,877 pier containers). Container volume was up 16.9 percent for the calendar year, with 793,090 containers handled in 2010 versus 678,715 pier containers in 2009. “While we have tempered expectations on near-term volume growth, South Carolina’s ports are positioned to continue the upward trend in 2011,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SCSPA.

Breakbulk tonnage at the ports of Charleston and Georgetown was up 27 percent for the calendar year, with 876,852 pier tons handled at the two ports in 2010. Non-containerized cargo is up 36.5 percent for the first six months of the fiscal year.

The SCSPA welcomed several new shipping services during 2010, including MSC’s Golden Gate Service, CSAV’s AMEX service, Höegh Autoliners’ Middle East service a new breakbulk service with Liberty Global Logistics. Ocean carriers continue to take advantage of Charleston’s deep water. In December, the SCSPA welcomed its 300^th post-Panamax ship to Charleston and has handled 35 calls of ships of 8,000-TEU capacity or greater. Approximately 80 percent of the container ships on order are post-Panamax and, by end 2013, 50 percent of the capacity in operation will be post-Panamax, according to published reports. 

“This underscores the need for deepwater harbors such as Charleston ahead of the opening of the expanded Panama Canal locks in 2014,” said Newsome. Several new business initiatives are helping to drive volume across the docks. This year, the South Carolina Department of Transportation approved an increased overweight permit for cargo traveling in both refrigerated and dry shipping containers. Under the new permit, trucks of up to 100,000 pounds gross vehicle weight may travel on South Carolina roadways, aiding in the transport of traditionally heavy export goods. Additionally, the SCSPA launched a new marketing effort targeting transload cargo like cotton and forest products at local rail-served warehouses.

While currently enjoying the deepest water in the Southeast, the SCSPA continues to pursue federal funding for the next harbor deepening project to take Charleston’s channels even deeper. This summer the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined a federal interest in the project and noted that Charleston is likely the least expensive port in the region to reach 50 feet.

In addition to a new terminal operating system that will be implemented in the coming months, the SCSPA is streamlining its container operations by moving to a single-gate operating system effective Tuesday. The changes will bring numerous benefits to port users, including uniform processes and operations across all container terminals, extended gate hours and access to the SCSPA’s information systems for all port customers, all while boosting capacity by about 10 percent.

With 23.7 million tonnes (gross) of goods handled last year, the companies at Rostock seaport recorded a ten percent increase against 2009. ‘Things are gradually looking up after the slump of 2009, although we are still quite a bit away from the level of 2008’, says Ulrich Bauermeister, Managing Director of Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock mbH. The annual results in dry bulk, liquid and ferry goods, the main cargo types providing much of the handling, achieved double-digit growth rates. Handling of liquid goods increased by 15 percent to 4.6 million tonnes. Dry bulk achieved an annual result of 6 million tonnes, which corresponds to an 11 percent increase compared to 2009. ‘In the coming years we will focus on stabilising the cargo handling particularly of these two main cargo types on a high level and to further increase amounts after the deepening of the navigational channel,’ says Ulrich Bauermeister. Another handling decline of 11 percent occurred in general cargo: 365,000 tonnes were recorded until the end of 2010. ‘Judging by the potential of Rostock port that is an unsatisfactory result,’ says the managing director of the port development company. There were again increases in wheeled cargo of ferry and ro-ro goods. On the whole the amount went up from 11.8 million tonnes in 2009 to 12.7 million tonnes last year (2008: 16 million tonnes). ‘The port of Rostock was not spared the slump of the world economy in 2009. The ground rule for economic upturns as well as downturns is that cargo handling grows or falls two to two and a half times as much as the GDP. That’s the range in which we find ourselves,’ explains Bauermeister. The share of wheeled cargo in the total handling of Rostock Seaport was 54 percent last year. The number of passengers carried on the lines to Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Poland decreased by just under 40,000 to 2.06 million passengers. While the Rostock-Trelleborg route was able to record slight increases, passenger numbers from and to Denmark and Finland decreased slightly.