Listed PPAP logs 14% falloff in 2020 profit
STOCK-LISTED Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) booked a profit of $9,860,875 in 2020, a decrease of 14 per cent compared to 2019 due to the severe Covid-19 blows to the regional and global economies.
PPAP director-general Hei Bavy revealed the figures at the state-owned river port operator’s sixth annual general assembly on May 5 via video link, without specifying which particular profit measure (gross, operating, net) he was referring to.
Container throughput at the port rose to 290,857 TEUs, or twenty-equivalent units, in 2020, an increase of 3.49 per cent over the year before, he said.
A TEU is an inexact unit of cargo capacity used in the shipping industry roughly equivalent to a container with internal dimensions measuring about 20 feet long, eight feet wide and 8.5 feet tall, or a volume roughly 38.5 cubic metres.
Bavy said: “2020 was the year marked by the Covid-19 crisis, but our business and operations still showed good performance, and remained profitable by introducing prompt and timely response measures, such as revising the 2020 plan, implementing some necessary projects to serve business and operations, and reducing unnecessary costs.”
PPAP’s priority work plans for 2021 include a third-phase expansion to the LM17 container terminal in Banteay Dek commune’s Kandal Loeu village of Kandal province’s Kien Svay district to boost handling capacity to 500,000 TEUs per year, he said.
PPAP will also set up satellites at KM6 Container Terminal, UM2 Tonle Bet Terminal and Koh Roka Terminal in Kampong Cham province; upgrade the TS3 Multipurpose Terminal into an international tourism port; incorporate information systems; and adjust the prices of some services to attract more customers, he added.