China reported 254.6 billion yuan ($39.35 billion) in fixed investment in highways and waterways in the first quarter (Q1), the transport ministry said on April 19.

A total of 4.87 billion trips were made and 8.79 billion tons of freight were transported via railways, highways and waterways in Q1, Ministry of Transport official Zhang Dawei said. The number of journeys was down 1.8 percent from the same period last year, and freight tonnage rose 2.1 percent year-on-year.

In Q1, the cargo-handling capacity of major ports increased 1.7 percent year-on-year to 2.76 billion tons, and the container throughput increased 1.9 percent to 50 million standard units, Zhang said.

Logistics business volume surged more than 50 percent in the first three months, he said, compared with the same period last year.

Zhang expects the current momentum in freight transportation to remain throughout the first half of 2016 while passenger traffic growth will remain subdued as a result of industrial restructuring.