China News Service, August 27 () The Ministry of Transport held a regular press conference for August on the 27th to introduce the economic operation of the transportation sector from January to July. Li Ying, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, stated at the conference that overall, in July of this year, the economic operation of the transportation sector continued its upward and improving trend, with freight volume and cross-regional passenger movement maintaining steady growth, port cargo throughput growing rapidly, and transportation fixed-asset investment remaining at a high level.
First, freight volume maintained steady growth. In July, the commercial freight volume reached 4.97 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%, with the growth rate rising by 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous month. By mode of transport, freight volumes for railway, highway, waterway, and civil aviation increased by 4.5%, 3.3%, 3.4%, and 15.3% year-on-year, respectively. From January to July, the commercial freight volume totaled 33.0 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%.
Second, port cargo throughput grew rapidly. In July, port cargo throughput reached 1.54 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%, with the growth rate accelerating by 2.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. By structure, domestic and foreign trade throughput increased by 7.6% and 5.5% year-on-year, respectively, with growth rates accelerating by 1.5 and 3.6 percentage points compared to the previous month. Port container throughput reached 29.96 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%. From January to July, port cargo throughput reached 10.44 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%, while container throughput reached 200 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%.
Third, cross-regional passenger movement continued to increase. In July, cross-regional passenger movement reached 5.71 billion person-trips, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%, with the growth rate rising by 0.7 percentage points compared to the previous month. By mode of transport, passenger volumes for railway, waterway, and civil aviation increased by 6.6%, 2.1%, and 3.9% year-on-year, respectively, while highway passenger movement increased by 1.8% year-on-year. From January to July, cross-regional passenger movement reached 39.46 billion person-trips, a year-on-year increase of 3.9%.
Fourth, transportation fixed-asset investment remained at a high level. In July, transportation fixed-asset investment reached 306.1 billion yuan. By mode of transport, railway investment was 77.1 billion yuan; highway investment was 200.5 billion yuan, of which expressways, national and provincial trunk roads, and rural roads accounted for 98.1 billion yuan, 52.9 billion yuan, and 31.7 billion yuan, respectively; waterway investment was 17.3 billion yuan; and civil aviation investment was 11.2 billion yuan. From January to July, transportation fixed-asset investment totaled 1.95 trillion yuan.
