Since the beginning of 2019, freight volume in China has maintained rapid growth, according to a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on June 25. In the first five months, total commercial freight volume across the country reached 19.99 billion tons, a 6 percent year-on-year gain.
“Freight volume is a direct indicator of the economy’s status, and to some extent it’s a barometer of the economy,” said Wu Chungeng, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and director of its policy research office. He also said that there are many noteworthy aspects in China’s freight industry in 2019.
Activeness of freight trucks on highways increased significantly. Monitoring data from the national public supervision and service platform for road freight vehicles showed that, from January to May in 2019, the quantity of active trucks per day on the platform was about 3.64 million, the daily active rate of which on average was over 60 percent, 8 percent higher than in the same period in 2018. Monthly, the average operating days of freight vehicles was 18 days, an increase of 5.9 percent over the same period in 2018.
The freight index grew higher month-to-month. After the Spring Festival in 2019, there was a large demand in China domestically for transporting coal, ore, and sand, among others. China’s coastal bulk freight index has been rising month by month. As of June 19, the index averaged 1,070 points, adding 7.8 percent since the previous month. Meanwhile, demand for grain shipments between South America and China has also risen sharply as Australian and Brazilian mining companies ramp up shipments to China, therefore generally the dry bulk import market has been performing well. As of June 19, China import dry freight index averaged 792 points, up 8 percent month-on-month.
The port cargo throughput increased steadily. In May, the throughput of port cargo reached 1.2 billion tons, gaining 3.7 percent year-on-year, among which the throughput of domestic and foreign trade increased, respectively, by 5.2 percent and 0.9 percent. The total port cargo throughput from January to May hit 5.5 billion tons, a year-on-year growth rate of 4.1 percent.
Inland river transportation volume has seen a significant year-on-year growth. It is estimated that in the first half of 2019, cargo volume through the Three Gorges Dam lock will reach 72.34 million tons, an 8.6 percent increase from the same period of 2018. Meanwhile, the cargo volume through Changzhou reservoir lock on the Xijiang River in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region reached 64.89 million tons, up 13.2 percent year-on-year. And Huaian locks of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal have handled 125 million tons of cargo, a 9.3 percent of year-on-year growth.
The volume of rail-waterway intermodal container transport also grew steadily. In the first half of this year, it is expected to reach 2.5 million TEU, a 19.3 percent year-on-year growth.
“These data on freight transportation explains, in some ways, that China’s economy has been progressing steadily and positively in the first half of 2019,” Wu said. Additionally, he mentioned that in the first five months, other major indicators apart from freight volume have also stayed within a reasonable range, and that the transportation economy has reached stability.
