China will reduce its highway cargo volume as it adjusts its transportation structure to reduce pollution, an official with the Ministry of Transport said on July 2.

China aims to increase its cargo volume on national railways by 1.1 billion metric tons and on waterways by 500 million tons. It will also reduce the cargo volume on highways linked to coastal ports by 440 million tons from now to 2020, said Liu Xiaoming, vice-minister of transport.

Speaking at a news briefing hosted by the State Council Information Office, Liu said speeding up changes to the transportation structure is important for pollution prevention and control.

The emissions of freight vehicles on highways, especially medium-and heavy-duty diesel trucks, is a major source of air pollution. However, China’s highway cargo volume has nearly doubled since 2008, which is not reasonable, he said.

According to Liu, the country expects to cut its emissions of nitrogen oxide by 1.1 million tons and fine particulate matter by 55,000 tons through transportation structure adjustments over three years.

Efforts will be undertaken to promote road-rail transport solutions for deliveries into cities, and to increase the number of delivery vehicles using new energy, he said, adding that 80 percent of new and upgraded delivery vehicles in cities are expected to be powered by clean fuels by 2020.

By 2020, the national railway freight volume is expected to reach 4.79 billion tons, with mass commodities accounting for more than 90 percent of that, according to Li Wenxin, deputy general manager of China Railway Corp.

Zhou Xiaofei, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said public sharing of transportation information will also be part of the work to raise transportation efficiency.