BEIJING — China's road cargo transport registered steady growth in the first three quarters of 2019, according to the Ministry of Transport.

During the Jan-Sept period, road freight volume, which takes up the lion's share in China's total cargo transport, rose 5.7 percent year-on-year to 30.28 billion metric tons, the ministry said in a statement.

East China's Fujian province continued to register the fastest yearly growth of 12.7 percent, followed by 11.4 percent in Heilongjiang and 10.2 percent in Hainan.

Freeway cargo volume stood at 12.85 billion tons in the first nine months, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier, with Northeast China's Heilongjiang province leading the growth, said the ministry.

In the same period, the amount of cargo transported by water climbed 6.7 percent to 5.46 billion tons.