Sihanoukville Autonomous Port or Port Autonome de Sihanoukville (PAS) is a government agency and state corporation of Cambodia and Sihanoukville that operates and governs the country's sole deep water port. Located in Sihanoukville, in Bay of Kompong Som on the Gulf of Thailand in the south of Cambodia. The port was founded in 1960 with the construction of the Old Jetty, which has four berths.
The port has continued to build, adding several more berths, a container terminal, a tanker terminal and an industrial effluent treatment plant. Currently there are 9 berths available for medium ships with a maximum draft of 8.5 metres. The total berth length is 1330 metres and the tidal variation is 1.4metres. The decking for the original pier laid in 1958 consisted of 137 pre-stressed concrete beams, each 35 metres long and weighing around 90 tons. The beams were constructed on site and proved so difficult to manoeuvre that a small railway was constructed to transport the beams from the fabrication site.
PAS' board of directors is appointed by a variety of government ministries. It employs over 1000 people. In 2003, PAS acquired the remaining 70% of the Cambodia CWT Dry Port near Phnom Penh. In addition to the 30% share already held, this made the state-owned Sihanoukville Autonomous Port the sole proprietor of the dry port. The port was reported to have been sold for 3.037 billion Cambodian Riel (USD $823,000) in cash.
Read more about Sihanoukville Autonomous Port: History, See Also
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