BEIJING — The recovery of China's transport industry picked up pace in May, with some key indicators continuing to improve, an official with the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said on June 23.

China's fixed-asset investment in transportation reached 1.02 trillion yuan (about $144.33 billion) during the first five months, an increase of 0.9 percent over the same period last year, MOT Spokesperson Sun Wenjian told a regular news conference.

The country's cargo throughput at ports increased by 4.4 percent year-on-year to 1.26 billion metric tons in May. The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than in April.

Some 7.38 billion pieces of parcels were delivered by express delivery last month, up 41.1 percent from a year earlier.

In terms of passenger transport, 740 million passenger trips were made in May, about 50.7 percent of the passenger volume in the same month of last year.

As of June 22, 99.84 percent of key transportation projects under construction had resumed, Sun added.