Cambodia: France and WorldBridge Lay the Groundwork for a Logistics Hub at Sihanoukville Airport

L'Ambassadeur de France, M. Olivier Richard, a assisté aux côtés de S.E. Mao Havannall, ministre en charge du Secrétariat d'État à l'Aviation civile, à la signature d'un protocole d'accord entre VINCI Airports et WorldBridge, visant à créer un hub logistique à l'aéroport international de Sihanoukville.

@Cambodia Airports

The Ambassador of France, Mr Olivier Richard, attended alongside H.E. Mao Havannall, Minister in Charge of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, the signing of a memorandum of understanding between VINCI Airports and WorldBridge, aimed at creating a logistics hub at Sihanoukville International Airport.

The project, which combines WorldBridge's expertise in logistics with VINCI Airports' know-how in airport management and services, reflects the growing momentum of cooperation between France and Cambodia in the field of infrastructure.

A feasibility study before the first shovel goes in

The ceremony was held on 21 July at the Shangri-La Hotel in Phnom Penh, under the chairmanship of H.E. Mao Havannall. The memorandum first commits the two partners to a joint feasibility study: the aim is to assess the economic and operational viability of a Cargo Logistics Hub attached to Sihanoukville International Airport, ahead of any commitment to actual construction. On the Cambodian side, WorldBridge Group is represented by its founder, Neak Oknha Rithy Sear, a well-known figure in the Kingdom's business community already involved in several major logistics infrastructure projects across the country. On the French side, VINCI Airports operates through its subsidiary Cambodia Airports, concessionaire of the international airports of Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville since 2006.

Sihanoukville, a cornerstone of the Kingdom's airport strategy

Sihanoukville Airport is not starting from a blank slate. Since 2016, VINCI Airports has carried out a major modernisation programme there: a full renovation of the existing terminal building, an 80% expansion of the terminal surface — from 2,700 to 4,800 sqm — and, in 2020, an upgrade of the runway to 3.3 km, completed as part of a $58 million project led by a consortium including VINCI Construction Terrassement and Soletanche Freyssinet. The infrastructure can now accommodate high-tonnage long-haul aircraft such as the Boeing 777-300ER and the Airbus A350-1000. This upgrade is part of Cambodia Airports' 20-year master plan for Sihanoukville, which envisions, by 2040, extending the runway to 3,300 metres, adding new taxiways and expanding the passenger terminal.

The logistics hub project builds on this momentum by leveraging a decisive geographic advantage: the immediate proximity of the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, the country's only deep-water seaport, through which the bulk of Cambodia's containerised cargo passes. The stated ambition is to create continuity between sea freight and air freight, strengthening the logistics competitiveness of the Kingdom's entire coastal region.

A Franco-Cambodian partnership that keeps deepening

The presence of the French Ambassador alongside Minister Mao Havannall underscores the importance Paris attaches to this partnership. VINCI Airports, present in Cambodia for two decades, currently operates two of the country's three international airports — Techo and Sihanoukville — and has accompanied the profound transformation of Cambodia's aviation sector, most recently marked this year by the opening of the new Techo International Airport, with its dual 4-kilometre runway. For Cambodian authorities, this new memorandum fits into a broader strategy of logistics diversification, alongside other recent initiatives such as the memorandum signed in late April between WorldBridge and DRSB Express to modernise e-commerce logistics, and the 2022 partnership with Singapore's YCH Group around the Phnom Penh Logistics Complex.

What remains is to turn the agreement into reality: the outcome of the feasibility study will determine the actual timeline and scale of the future hub. But the signal being sent is clear — Sihanoukville, alongside its port, intends to establish itself as an integrated logistics platform at the regional scale, carried forward by a Franco-Cambodian partnership that continues to deepen.