*Road and waterway transport grew mildly;
*Port throughput posted single-digit growth;
*The aviation sector was the bright spot, with international trips surging;
*Overall investment in road and waterway transport dropped.
Guangzhou (JLC), August 6, 2024 – The Ministry of Transport has recently released a series of key data on road, waterway and air transport and port activities for the first half (H1) of 2024, pointing to a fair but uneven growth in China’s transport sector.
The aviation sector continued to rebound strongly, with air cargo volume and passenger flows both expanding considerably, although road, waterway and port activities grew at slower paces.
China's import and export growth is believed to be the main driver behind the overall growth, as retail sales and the manufacturing sector grew less impressively in H1. Moreover, the flourishing tourism sector and China's improved visa-free policies helped boost the aviation sector.
Road and waterway sectors grew mildly
China's road freight volume rose 4.0% year on year to about 19.77 billion mt in the first six months of 2024, the official data showed.
Road passenger flows grew 6.6% year on year to about 29.84 billion passenger trips in H1.
Meanwhile, the country’s waterway freight volume increased 6.3% year on year to about 4.7 billion mt in H1.
Waterway passenger volume grew 5.2% year on year to about 124 million passenger trips in H1, the data showed.
Port throughput expanded by less than 10%
In terms of port activities, China’s cargo throughput at ports totaled 8.56 billion mt in the same period, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%.
Container throughput at ports rose 8.5% year on year to about 162 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
The growth rates are consistent with China’s trade figures. The import and export value of goods reached CNY21.2 trillion in H1, up 6.1% year on year, the customs data showed.
Aviation sector boomed
Air Cargo and mail volume grew 27.4% year on year to 4.17 million mt in H1. Among them, international air cargo and mail increased 34.3% year on year to 1.65 million mt, largely thanks to the strong growth in cross-border e-commerce.
China’s cross-border e-commerce trade volume reached CNY1.22 trillion in H1, up 10.5% year on year, according to customs data.
In terms of passenger flows, China completed about 352 million passenger trips by air, up 23.5% year on year, benefiting from the travel enthusiasm at home and abroad.
Notably, passenger trips completed by international flights grew by a staggering 254.4% year on year, thanks to more relaxed visa policies and a low base in the same period last year.
Fixed Asset Investment dropped
Overall, the fixed asset investment in road and waterway transport fell 9.1% year on year to about CNY1.34 trillion in H1, reversing a 9.8% increase recorded in the same period last year.
