Port Fee Cuts Cheered

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Khmer Times/Sok Chan

Exporters are welcoming Prime Minister Hun Sen’s announcement on Sunday that container loading and unloading fees will be cut at the country’s two main ports, while fees at the country’s main shipping and logistics firm, state-run Kampuchea Shipping Agency and Brokers (Kamsab), will also be cut. Exports will be more competitive as a result of the cuts, Mr. Hun Sen said during a speech to mark International Labor Day.

Container loading and unloading fees will be cut by 10 percent at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and by five percent at Phnom Penh Autonomous port, while fees charged by Kamsab will fall 10 percent, the prime minister said. Mr. Hun Sen said cutting logistics costs would boost production and lower the costs of imported goods exporters need to run their operations. His announcement follows the appointment last month of a new minister at the Transport Ministry. Sun Chanthol, the former commerce minister widely respected for reforming that ministry, was shifted to lead the Transport Ministry.

Mr. Hun Sen also called for a crackdown on unofficial fees, citing an internal government report that found they accounted for almost half, 48 percent, of transportation costs. These fees are a form of “bribery,” the prime minister said, urging greater cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation to urgently eliminate this crime. This “most be done” urgently, he said. Exports of Cambodian rice would be competitive enough to crack the Philippine market if bribery is eliminated from transportation services, he explained. “These unofficial fees account for 48 percent of [total transportation costs], so eliminating them will benefit people throughout the country,” Mr. Hun Sen added.

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