Cargo shipment entering and leaving Cambodia through the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port increased by 20 percent in the first nine months of 2013 thanks to growing business activities, according to port's data released on Saturday.

During the January-September period this year, the kingdom's second largest port received 84,229 20-foot-equivalent units, or TEUs (standard-sized containers), up 20 percent from 70,079 TEUs over the same period last year, showed the data.

Senior port officials could not be reached for comment on Saturday, but Eng Veng Sun, the port's deputy director-general, said earlier that the growth reflected the country's better economic situation.

Goods that went through the port are mostly garments, construction materials, agricultural products, automobiles, and daily consuming products, he said.

The Phnom Penh Autonomous Port is one of the state-owned enterprises the government has planned to be listed on the Cambodian Stock Exchange.

In January, the port launched a new container terminal with the capacity of 120,000 TEUs per year, thanks to a Chinese soft loan of $28 million.