China transported 23.21 billion tons of freight in the first half of the year, up 6.9 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Transport on July 26. Ports above scale handled 6.54 billion tons of cargo during the same period of time, an increase of 2.4 percent. Fixed assets investment in the transport industry totaled 1.33 trillion yuan ($195.35 billion), similar to that of the last year.

Freight transport volume growth rose 7.4 percent in the second quarter, indicating booming demand of cargo transport, said Mao Jian, deputy inspector of the comprehensive planning department at the ministry.

Railway completed 1.96 billion tons of freight transportation in the first six months, up 7.7 percent, with coal transport taking up 80 percent of total increase.

The whole country handled 22.08 billion pieces of express deliveries in the first half, jumping 27.5 percent compared with that of last year. Express delivery service volume has maintained a growth of over 25 percent in nine consecutive years, added Mao.

Energy and container transport accounted for large volume of port capacity, while that of iron ore and mineral building materials saw a drop.

According to the ministry, the country invested 980.6 billion yuan in highway and waterway construction during the Jan to June period, an increase of 1.4 percent compared with same period in 2017, and completed 54.5 percent of the whole year target of 1.8 trillion yuan.

Investment on highways and rural roads grew 12.8 percent and 1.8 percent to 431.1 billion yuan and 190.9 billion yuan, respectively, while investment in national, provincial highway and waterways declined 13.2 percent and 9 percent to 284.6 billion yuan and 51.1 billion yuan during the same period of the year.