Mid year data observation: China's freight volume continues to grow, travel volume accelerates, and transportation resumes | Transportation | China
The original transportation system continues to recover and overall improves
The completed operational freight volume reached 25.93 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%; The transportation fixed assets investment reached 1.83 trillion yuan, and continued to operate at a high level... On July 31, the Ministry of Transport released data showing that in the first half of the year, the transportation economy operated steadily and well, with both reasonable growth in quantity and effective improvement in quality.
Transportation is the vanguard of the economy and society. "In the first half of the year, with the comprehensive restoration of normal economic and social operations and the gradual manifestation of various policy measures, the transportation economy has shown a continuous recovery and overall improvement, providing strong support for promoting economic recovery and improvement." said Li Chuanguang, Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Planning Department of the Ministry of Transport.
Freight volume continues to grow, and travel volume accelerates recovery
On the shore of the East China Sea, in the Meishan Port area of Zhoushan Port in Ningbo, giant ships are berthed, and towering bridge cranes are constantly operating, with trucks weaving back and forth between storage yards. In the first half of the year, Ningbo Zhoushan Port completed a cargo throughput of 679 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 6%.
In the first six months, during holidays such as Qingming Festival, May Day, and Dragon Boat Festival, passenger flow rebounded significantly, and railway passenger volume rapidly increased. In the first half of the year, China's railways sent 1.77 billion passengers, approaching the level of the same period in 2019.
The smooth flow of goods and the smooth flow of people reflect the development trend of transportation.
The freight volume continues to grow. In the first half of the year, the operating freight volume was 25.93 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. Among them, railways, highways, waterways, and civil aviation completed freight volumes of 2.5 billion tons, 19.01 billion tons, 4.42 billion tons, and 3.28 million tons, respectively, with year-on-year increases of 0.6%, 7.5%, 7.7%, and 6.4%.
The recovery of travel volume is accelerating. In the first half of the year, the operating passenger volume reached 4.32 billion, a year-on-year increase of 56.3%. The national urban passenger volume reached 45.42 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15%. The total number of small bus trips on highways reached 11.78 billion, a year-on-year increase of 39%, significantly exceeding the level of the same period before the epidemic.
The port's cargo throughput is growing rapidly. In the first half of the year, the port's cargo throughput reached 8.19 billion tons, an increase of 8% year-on-year. Among them, the domestic and foreign trade throughput increased by 7.6% and 8.9% year-on-year, respectively. The container throughput maintained growth and completed 150 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%.
Transportation investment operates at a high level. In the first half of the year, the investment in transportation fixed assets investment was 1.83 trillion yuan, up 9.1% year on year. In terms of investment, the railway completed an investment of 304.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%; The completed investment in highways was 1383 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.9%; The waterway completed an investment of 93.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.7%.
"Next, we will continue to focus on ensuring transportation safety and stability, effectively ensuring the stability and smoothness of the logistics supply chain, fully expanding effective investment in transportation, and promoting sustained economic recovery and improvement," said Li Chuanguang.
Effective investment in transportation continues to expand, and a batch of major transportation projects have refreshed the "progress bar"
The vast road flows through the divine realm, and the flying rainbow crosses mountains and rivers. Since the beginning of this year, effective investment in transportation has continued to expand, and a number of major transportation projects have continuously refreshed their progress bars. Sun Wenjian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport and deputy director of the Political Research Office, said that the accelerated construction of a modern and high-quality national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network has provided strong support for expanding domestic demand, stabilizing growth, and benefiting people's livelihoods.
Looking at the comprehensive hub, the Guangzhou East Public Rail Intermodal Hub has basically achieved one international train per day. Chongqing East Station completed an investment of 4.7 billion yuan in the first half of the year, accounting for 63% of the annual investment plan. Currently, Xiamen North High Speed Railway Station has completed the interior and exterior decoration of the station building, and is expected to have the conditions for opening and operation by the end of September this year.
Looking at the highway project, all the offshore main towers of the Huangmaohai Expressway have been capped, and the Beijing section of the Jingxiong Expressway, the Jingxiong Bridge, has been closed, laying the foundation for the full opening of the Jingxiong Expressway this year... In the first half of the year, 170 new highways and 5750 kilometers of ordinary national and provincial trunk road projects were launched nationwide, with a total investment of 362.6 billion yuan.
Looking at the water transport project, the construction of the whole Pinglu Canal was started, the expansion project of the international container hub port in Yangpu region of Hainan was started, the class III waterway of the Zhejiang section of the Beijing Hangzhou Canal was opened to navigation, and the navigation project from Anhui to Huaihe River was accelerated to move towards the goal of full navigation in October this year.
"In the first half of the year, the Ministry of Transport, together with the Ministry of Finance, allocated a total of 304.94 billion yuan in central vehicle purchase tax funds to support the construction of local roads and waterways, driving the acceleration of transportation projects. In addition, 18 key highway project design plans were approved, involving a total investment of 223.5 billion yuan." Sun Wenjian said that in the next step, the Ministry of Transport will continue to focus on connecting and strengthening the network, continue to promote the construction of major transportation projects, strengthen relevant policy support, and contribute to the expansion of domestic demand and the stable operation of China's economy.
The pace of digitalization and green development in transportation is accelerating
Building a strong transportation country is a leading field in building a modern economic system, and also the overall focus of doing a good job in transportation work in the new era.
"Since the end of 2019, the pilot work of building a strong transportation country has achieved phased results." Li Chuanguang introduced that in recent years, a total of 71 pilot units have been organized to carry out 378 pilot tasks, covering 37 local transportation authorities. At present, 237 pilot tasks have achieved phased results as required, accounting for 63% of the total number of pilot tasks.
The C919 domestically produced large aircraft has officially been put into commercial operation, and the first domestically produced large cruise ship has started trial flights. A series of core technologies for transportation equipment such as high-speed railways, heavy-duty railways, and high-speed maglev have achieved complete autonomy and controllability... Driven by pilot work, the comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network has accelerated, the level of transportation equipment has continued to improve, and the comprehensive transportation service capacity has significantly improved.
Building a modern comprehensive transportation system that is safe, convenient, efficient, green, and economical is essential for building a strong transportation country. Since the beginning of this year, the pace of digital and green transportation development has accelerated.
The entire Jingxiong Expressway covers the mobile 5G private network, and the first smart expressway in China, the Hangzhou Shaoxing Ningbo Expressway, is moving towards completion and opening to traffic by the end of this year. The construction of smart highways such as the Jiqing Middle Line Expressway and the expansion of the Hubei section of the Beijing Hong Kong Macao Expressway is accelerating
"Since the beginning of this year, a number of technological achievements with clear scenarios and significant benefits have been accelerated in the digital transformation of the entire process of highway construction, maintenance, and operation." Guo Sheng, Deputy Director of the Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, said that the policy documents for highway digitization and smart highway construction are currently being organized and drafted, and digital special actions and related pilot work in highway design and construction, maintenance emergency, travel services, market governance, standards and specifications are being promoted.
As a key area for promoting green development, transportation emissions account for about 10% of China's total carbon emissions, which is an important aspect of energy conservation and emission reduction. Sun Wenjian introduced that for a period of time, the application of new energy and clean energy vehicles and ships has accelerated, and green transportation has been deeply promoted. At present, the proportion of urban new energy buses in China has reached 77.2%. Since the first half of the year, the shore power usage of ports and water service areas in 11 provinces and cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt has increased by 65% year-on-year. The shore power usage of inter provincial passenger and cargo ro/ro ships in the Bohai Bay has exceeded that of the entire year last year. It is understood that currently, public transportation such as buses, subways, and ferries account for 72.5% of urban passenger transportation. In the first half of the year, the volume of container rail water intermodal transportation increased by about 9.4% year-on-year.
Sun Wenjian stated that the next step will be to vigorously promote the "public to rail" and "public to water" transportation, accelerate the development of multimodal transportation, deepen the pilot of comprehensive transportation services under the "one bill system", "one box system", and "one ticket system", and focus on promoting the adjustment and optimization of transportation structure. At the same time, we will accelerate the low-carbon transformation of our development model and deepen the construction of national public transportation cities and urban green freight demonstration projects.
Journalist's Notes
People enjoy their goods and flow freely
Trains are speeding and new routes are being launched, leading to a continuous rise in the travel market; Giant ships shuttle and trucks are woven together, and port operations are busy; The road network is winding, the rainbow is flying, and major construction projects are in full swing... This summer, transportation is thriving. People enjoy their travel, goods flow freely, and flowing China unleashes more vitality.
Behind each tangible production and living scene is the transportation industry, which is continuously recovering and improving overall. In the first half of the year, the number of passengers sent by railways was close to the same period in 2019, and the scale of small passenger bus trips on highways has significantly exceeded the level of the same period before the epidemic. The express delivery business volume exceeded 60 billion pieces, 34 days earlier than 2022... The rapidly increasing operational data is confirming that with the implementation and effectiveness of various policy measures, China's resilient transportation is accelerating its return to the normal operation track, providing strong support for promoting economic recovery and improvement.
By zooming in on the observed lens, it is not difficult to see that in the continuous recovery of transportation, there is both a reasonable increase in quantity and a more effective improvement in quality. Domestic large aircraft have officially entered commercial operation, domestic large cruise ships have started trial flights, and independent innovation in transportation technology has reached a new level; The construction of smart highways is accelerating, the renovation and upgrading of smart ports are accelerating, and new steps are being taken in the digital development of transportation; The establishment of green waterways is accelerating, green travel is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and green has become the foundation of transportation development... Anchoring the goal of building a strong transportation country, since the beginning of this year, the national transportation system has made every effort to ensure smooth operation, expand investment, stabilize the market, and adjust the structure, continuously promoting sustained improvement in economic operation and continuous enhancement of endogenous power.
The main road leads smoothly through Jiuzhou. As an important driving force for promoting investment and stable growth, with the completion of a number of major engineering projects and the acceleration of the construction of a modern and high-quality national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, the good development trend of the transportation industry will undoubtedly better boost market confidence and help achieve the annual economic and social development goals with high quality.
