Transportation sector recovers after volatile April: ministry official

The main indicators of China’s transportation industry have recovered after a volatile time in April, with freight volume largely recovering to the level of the same period last year, an official from the Ministry of Transport said on Thursday.

Container throughput of ports expanded, while volume of shipments returned to normal, Shu Chi, a spokesperson of the ministry, said at a press conference.

In the first half of the year, the transport system carried 24.27 billion tons of cargo, down 2.2 percent year- on- year, but in June, volume basically recovered to the year- earlier level.

Ports’ throughput totaled 140 million standard containers, up 3 percent, while bulk cargo shipment reached 7.58 billion tons, down 0.8 percent.

In July, the Shanghai port’s average daily throughput reached 139,800 standard containers, maintaining a growth, and activity at the Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun airports returned to normalcy, said the ministry.

In the first half year, Shandong port’s throughput stood at 805 million tons, up 6.2 percent, with an 8.4 percent rise in container volume.

Highways and port waterways across China have been operating smoothly, the ministry said on Thursday. Compared with April 18, the volume of trucks on the national highways increased by 10.3 percent on July 26.

Road conditions have significantly improved, Zhao Yong, a manager at Shanghai Shirui Supply Chain Management Co, a logistics business mainly based in the Yangtze- River Delta, told the Global Times. Trucks can go anywhere now, and there’s been no road congestion this month.

Ensuring a smooth flow of logistics will be the focus of the ministry in the second half of this year, Shu said.