- January waterway and road freight volumes in China go opposite directions compared with year-ago levels
- Waterway cargo volume for the month up 3.9% while road cargo volume contracts 5.5%
- Hainan province posts 34% year-on-year surge in waterway freight volume
Freight volume on China’s waterways rose year-on-year in January, continuing a full-year upsurge in 2021, while road freight volume decreased, data from the Ministry of Transport show.
The country recorded a total waterway freight volume of 679.58 million tons last month, up 3.9% from a year ago.
The southernmost province of Hainan registered a 34% year-on-year surge in waterway freight volume, the biggest growth among the provinces.
In January, waterway passenger trips totaled 9.08 million, up 6.6% from a year ago.
Ningxia Hui autonomous region in the northwest reported the sharpest rise in waterway passenger trips, surging 169.6% from a year earlier, the data showed.
In the road freight segment, volume decreased 5.5% year on year to 2.93 billion metric tons in January this year, the ministry said.
But Liaoning reported the fastest growth of 40.5% at the provincial level, followed by Shanxi at 21.8% and Jilin at 10.2%.
For the whole of last year, China’s road freight transport recorded steady expansion last year, with the freight volume jumping 14.2% year on year to 39.14 billion metric tons, data from the ministry showed.
In December alone, China’s road freight volume stood at 3.43 billion tons, said the ministry.
By region, the central province of Hubei registered the highest growth rate of 41.1% in 2021, followed by Northwest China’s Xinjiang and Qinghai.
