PHNOM PENH, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Container traffic through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port increased by 7.5 percent in the first eight months of this year versus the same period last year, hitting the port's record on Tuesday.

During the January-August period this year, the port had received 57,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units, or TEUs, up 7.5 percent from 53,000 TEUs (standard-sized containers) at the same period last year, the report said.

Common goods go through the port, including garments, agricultural products, construction materials, agricultural machinery, raw materials for garment production and consuming products.

Hei Bavy, the port's director general, said the rise was due to the increasing import and export activities as the economic situation was good.

The Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, the Kingdom's second largest port, links with Cai Mep deepwater port in southern Vietnam.

The goods shipped from the port will be unloaded at Cai Mep port and then sail directly to Europe and the United States.

In March last year, to meet with the increasing demand of shipments, the port has begun to build a container terminal with the total capacity of 120,000 TEUs per year under the China's concessional loan of 28.2 million U.S. dollars. The construction of the new terminal will be completed in late 2013.