DPA
Cambodia hopes to significantly increase shipping traffic via the Mekong with the launch of a new system of navigation aids by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) on Thursday, officials said.
The MRC's Procurement, Installation and Training on Aids to Navigation on the Mekong River for the first time provides a full day and night system of channel markers on the busiest stretch of the river in Cambodia, the MRC said.
Cambodian Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said 12 leading markers and 56 buoys and beacons will cover a 100-kilometre stretch of the river, significantly improving safety and navigation.
"It is estimated this will save up to 45 million dollars a year in transport costs by enabling smaller seagoing vessels to travel directly from Phnom Penh to Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong," he said.
He said while Cambodia's export potential had grown significantly in recent years, transport costs of shipping goods to the country's only deepwater port of Sihanoukville or Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City had until now offset this increase with corresponding transport costs.
The MRC said in a statement that the navigation system provided particular trade benefits between Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as making regional exports more competitive and boosting river tourism.
Uncharted sandbars, shoals and other problems had previously made navigation of the Mekong in Cambodia, especially at night, a fraught exercise.
Funded by the Belgian government, the MRC is serving as the executing agency for the project and it is being implemented by Australian Maritime Systems Ltd in cooperation with Phnom Penh Autonomous Port and the Waterways Department of the Public Works and Transport Ministry.
The equipment is manufactured by Mobilis Co Ltd of France and distributed by Tempest Co Ltd of Belgium. The 12-month project, the total cost of which was not made clear, is expected to be completed by November 2007.
The MRC's Procurement, Installation and Training on Aids to Navigation on the Mekong River for the first time provides a full day and night system of channel markers on the busiest stretch of the river in Cambodia, the MRC said.
Cambodian Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said 12 leading markers and 56 buoys and beacons will cover a 100-kilometre stretch of the river, significantly improving safety and navigation.
"It is estimated this will save up to 45 million dollars a year in transport costs by enabling smaller seagoing vessels to travel directly from Phnom Penh to Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong," he said.
He said while Cambodia's export potential had grown significantly in recent years, transport costs of shipping goods to the country's only deepwater port of Sihanoukville or Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City had until now offset this increase with corresponding transport costs.
The MRC said in a statement that the navigation system provided particular trade benefits between Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as making regional exports more competitive and boosting river tourism.
Uncharted sandbars, shoals and other problems had previously made navigation of the Mekong in Cambodia, especially at night, a fraught exercise.
Funded by the Belgian government, the MRC is serving as the executing agency for the project and it is being implemented by Australian Maritime Systems Ltd in cooperation with Phnom Penh Autonomous Port and the Waterways Department of the Public Works and Transport Ministry.
The equipment is manufactured by Mobilis Co Ltd of France and distributed by Tempest Co Ltd of Belgium. The 12-month project, the total cost of which was not made clear, is expected to be completed by November 2007.
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