Continuous recovery and vitality of transportation (economic focus)
Drafted by Zhang Fangman
Core Reading
In the first seven months, China's transportation economy continued to maintain a recovery trend, with major indicators achieving year-on-year growth. The scale of the transportation industry continues to grow, the transportation structure continues to optimize, and the investment scale remains at a high level, providing strong support for stable growth and expanding domestic demand.
Transportation is a fundamental, leading, strategic, and important service industry of the national economy. How was the operation of China's transportation economy in the first seven months of this year? What are the new highlights in the main fields of road freight, urban passenger transportation, and transportation investment? On August 24th, the Ministry of Transport held a regular press conference, where relevant officials introduced the operational characteristics of transportation and responded to social concerns regarding industry hotspots.
The growth rate of freight volume has rebounded, and the travel volume continues to accelerate driven by the summer vacation
The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, with blue waves rolling and cargo ships flowing back and forth like a web. "Since the beginning of this year, the flow of people along the Yangtze River has accelerated and the transportation of goods has been operating at a high level and continuing to improve." According to the relevant person in charge of the Yangtze River Three Gorges Navigation Management Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, in the first seven months, the freight volume of the Three Gorges Shiplock reached 14.945 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 11.53%. The annual shipping volume of the Three Gorges Hub is expected to reach a new high.
The Guangzhou Railway Group's summer transportation has sent over 100 million passengers, and the Hankou Railway Station has accumulated over 10 million passengers... The interweaving of family visits, tourism, and student flows has sparked a wave of railway summer transportation. In the first seven months, the railway completed a cumulative passenger transportation volume of 2.179 billion, a year-on-year increase of 115.1%.
The recovery of freight transportation and strong travel reflect the positive and more dynamic trend of the transportation industry. "Overall, the transportation economy continued to maintain a recovery trend in July, with major indicators achieving year-on-year growth," said Sun Wenjian, Deputy Director of the Political Research Office of the Ministry of Transport.
Looking at freight transportation, the volume of goods transported continues to rebound on a high base. In July, the completed operational freight volume was 4.74 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%, 2.8 percentage points faster than June. In terms of distribution, railways increased by 0.1% year-on-year, highways increased by 8% year-on-year, waterways increased by 6.9% year-on-year, and civil aviation increased by 11.6% year-on-year.
Looking at passenger transportation, the flow of personnel continues to accelerate driven by the summer. In July, the operating passenger volume reached 910 million, a year-on-year increase of 47%. The national urban passenger transport volume reached 8.21 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%. Completed a total of 2.07 billion trips by small passenger cars with 9 seats or less on highways, a year-on-year increase of 20.2%.
Looking at the port, the cargo throughput has maintained a rapid growth. In July, the port completed a cargo throughput of 1.43 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%, including a container throughput of 27.05 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 2.6%.
While the industry scale continues to grow, the transportation structure is also continuously optimized. Some civil aviation and railway enterprises have collaborated to launch "air rail intermodal transportation" products, allowing passengers to place orders and purchase tickets with just one click; Key ports are expanding their "door-to-door" integrated services and exploring innovative "single unit intermodal transportation" services. Since the beginning of this year, the comprehensive transportation services of "one ticket system," "one single unit system," and "one box system" have been accelerated.
"At present, the development of multimodal transportation has achieved initial results, but there are still problems such as data information not sharing, service products not being rich, and system rules not being connected." Han Jinghua, Deputy Director of the Transport Service Department of the Ministry of Transport, said that recently, the Ministry of Transport, together with multiple departments, has issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Development of" One Single System "and" One Box System "for multimodal transportation. The next step is to promote the application of standardized electronic waybills for multimodal transportation, optimize the customs clearance supervision of" One Single System "for multimodal transportation, enhance the service capacity of" One Box to the End ", improve the relevant standard system, and further enhance the level of multimodal transportation services and accelerate the construction of a modern transportation system.
Accelerate the construction of two major "super projects" and promote the sustained high-level operation of water transportation investment
Transportation infrastructure has the characteristics of large investment scale and fast implementation and effectiveness, and is an important area for expanding effective investment. Data shows that in July, the scale of China's transportation investment continued to operate at a high level, and the transportation fixed assets investment was 348.6 billion yuan, up 5.3% year on year.
Upon careful observation of the investment field, it is not difficult to find that investment in water transportation has become a major highlight of transportation infrastructure investment. From January to July, investment in China's water transportation sector continued to operate at a high level and grew rapidly, with a cumulative completed investment of 110.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.7%. Among them, coastal projects amounted to 50.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.2%; Inland river projects amounted to 57.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.8%.
Accelerate the construction of two major "super projects" to support the rapid growth of water transportation investment——
On the coast of the East China Sea, the container terminal and supporting projects in the Yangshan Deepwater Port Area and the Xiaoyangshan North Operation Area of Shanghai are fully under construction. "As a major project to accelerate the construction of a strong transportation country, the total investment of the project is 51.3 billion yuan, with a designed annual throughput capacity of 11.6 million standard containers." Sun Wenjian said that after the completion of the project, it will further promote the development of river sea intermodal transportation in the Yangtze River Golden Waterway, and promote the improvement of the functions and level of the Shanghai International Shipping Center.
On the land of Ba Gui, the concrete pouring for the head warehouse of the Qishi Hub of the Pinglu Canal has begun, marking the comprehensive entry of the three major hubs of the Pinglu Canal into the main structure construction stage. As the backbone project of the new land sea channel in the west, the Pinglu Canal enters the Beibu Gulf along the Qinjiang River through Luwu Town, Lingshan County, Qinzhou, Guangxi, with a total length of 134.2 kilometers. It will be navigable to 5000 ton ships in the future. After completion, it will open the second sea channel from the the Pearl River to the Xijiang River.
The second phase of the Meishan Port Area in Ningbo Zhoushan Port, the navigation facilities of the Baise Water Conservancy Hub, and other projects are accelerating. The first phase of the container terminal renovation project in Shanghai Luojing Port Area and the expansion and renovation projects of the Cuntan International Cruise Home Port in Chongqing's main urban port area are also accelerating. "Since the beginning of this year, through promoting major project construction, strengthening the reconstruction and expansion of coastal and inland port terminals, water transportation has formed a good situation where new construction projects and expansion projects are advancing simultaneously and working in both directions." Sun Wenjian said that the investment scale of water transportation construction continues to expand, providing strong support for stable growth and expanding domestic demand.
Deepening the strengthening and supplementation of national comprehensive freight hubs to promote high-quality development of the freight industry
The road freight industry is the lifeblood of the national economy and a fundamental service industry that ensures and improves people's livelihoods. In 2022, over 11 million freight vehicles and over 17 million truck drivers in the road freight industry completed 73% of the total commercial freight volume in society, making important contributions to supporting economic and social development.
How to further promote the high-quality development of the freight industry?
On the one hand, focusing on the key nodes of the main framework of the comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, we will deepen the promotion of strengthening and supplementing the national comprehensive freight hub chain.
"In 2022, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance jointly launched the work of supplementing and strengthening national comprehensive freight hubs, with 15 cities including Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Ningbo, etc. selected for the first batch of support list. Han Jinghua introduced that recently, a new batch of 10 cities entered the support scope, and central funds have been issued to support the construction of comprehensive freight hubs and collection and distribution systems.".
It is reported that multiple departments such as the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance have officially established a coordination mechanism for national comprehensive freight hub supply chain strengthening and provincial work. The next step will be to promote the performance evaluation of the first batch of national comprehensive freight hubs to supplement and strengthen the supply chain, actively support the construction of comprehensive freight hubs and collection and distribution systems, improve comprehensive transportation efficiency, and serve the safety and stability of industrial and supply chains.
On the other hand, effectively improving the production and operation conditions of truck drivers and better safeguarding their rights and interests.
In response to the difficulties in parking and resting reported by a large number of truck drivers, in recent years, relying on gas stations, logistics parks, highway service areas, etc., the Ministry of Transport has continued to carry out the construction of "driver's homes" for trucks, providing basic services such as parking, resting, dining, and showering for truck drivers. As of the end of 2022, more than 1300 "driver's homes" have been built nationwide.
"This year, together with the All China Federation of Trade Unions, we will promote 100 warm hearted service 'Driver's Home' with reasonable layout, practical functions, economic benefits, safety and convenience nationwide, further promoting the improvement of the service quality of 'Driver's Home'." Han Jinghua introduced.
In order to improve the production and operation conditions of truck drivers, in June this year, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued a document to simplify the application process for road freight driver qualification certificates, achieving "one registration, one training, one examination, and two certificates application". At the same time, we will continue to promote the cross provincial implementation of high-frequency government affairs for truck drivers, and expand the application scope and scenarios of electronic certificates for road transportation. Since the beginning of this year, a total of 4.55 million online cross provincial transactions have been completed, a year-on-year increase of 120%, with an average completion rate of 98.4%. Over 13 million electronic road transportation certificates have been generated nationwide.
"Next, the Ministry of Transport will continue to work with relevant departments to effectively improve the working environment for truck drivers, reduce the operating burden of drivers, fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of truck drivers, continue to deepen the reform of" streamlining administration and delegating power "in road freight, and promote the healthy, stable, and high-quality development of the road freight industry," said Han Jinghua.
