A view of a port in Shanghai Photo: VCG

The main indicators of China's transportation industry have recovered after a volatile time in April, with freight volume largely recovering to the level of the same period last year, an official from the Ministry of Transport said on Thursday. 

Container throughput of ports expanded, while volume of shipments returned to normal, Shu Chi, a spokesperson of the ministry, said at a press conference.

In the first half of the year, the transport system carried 24.27 billion tons of cargo, down 2.2 percent year-on-year, but in June, volume basically recovered to the year-earlier level. 

Ports' throughput totaled 140 million standard containers, up 3 percent, while bulk cargo shipment reached 7.58 billion tons, down 0.8 percent year-on-year.

In July, the Shanghai port's average daily throughput reached 139,800 standard containers, maintaining a growth, and activity at the Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun airports returned to normalcy, said the ministry.  

In the first half year, Shandong port's throughput stood at 805 million tons, up 6.2 percent, with an 8.4 percent rise in container volume.

Highways and port waterways across China have been operating smoothly, the ministry said on Thursday. Compared with April 18, the volume of trucks on the national highways increased by 10.3 percent on July 26.

Road conditions have significantly improved, Zhao Yong, a manager at Shanghai Shirui Supply Chain Management Co, a logistics business mainly based in the Yangtze-River Delta, told the Global Times on Thursday. Trucks can go anywhere now, and there's been no road congestion this month.

Ensuring a smooth flow of logistics will be the focus of the ministry in the second half of this year, Shu said.

China has taken measures to solve transport congestion since April, part of the efforts to ensure smooth logistics amid disruptions caused by coronavirus flare-ups in the country.

The Joint Prevention and Control Mehanism of the State Council, the cabinet, has asked different players on the logistics chain, from shipping companies and cargo owners to shipping agents and freight trucks, to work more closely to enhance efficiency.

FedEx Express on Thursday announced that it signed an agreement with Guangdong Airport Authority Logistic Co to upgrade the FedEx Guangzhou Gateway by establishing a new FedEx South China Operations Center in Guangzhou. 

The new center is expected to be operational in 2027. With an area of more than 41,000 square meters, the facility will be able to sort up to 25,000 packages and documents per hour. 

In 2021, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport recorded annual cargo and mail throughput of 2.045 million tons, with international and regional cargo and mail throughput increasing by more than 20 percent year-on-year.

Data from AliExpress showed that the shipments of domestic smart cleaning brands increased by 150 percent over the past three months, and market insiders have claimed the fast express delivery is also an important driving force behind cross border platforms which means products are directly sent to consumers faster, creating higher product added value.

The ministry said that China completed investment in transportation fixed assets of more than 1.6 trillion yuan ($248.3 billion) in the first half of this year, an increase of 6.7 percent. 

Investment in highways reached 1.27 trillion yuan, up 9.7 percent, while investment in waterways totaled 73.9 billion yuan, up 4.7 percent. 

Global Times