BEIJING, April 20 -- China's transportation industry maintained steady operations in the first quarter of the year, with multiple major indicators showing an upward trend.

The following are the data highlights released by the Ministry of Transport on Thursday.

HIGHWAY TRANSPORT

China's highways saw 978.65 million passenger trips in the first quarter, up 1 percent year on year.

During the same period, the highway freight volume totaled 8.57 billion tonnes, up 5.2 percent from the same period last year.

In March alone, the number of passenger trips climbed to 361.27 million, surging 21.4 percent year on year, and the freight volume rose 12 percent from a year earlier to over 3.5 billion tonnes.

PORT THROUGHPUT

In the January-March period, the container throughput in China reached 69.73 million twenty-foot equivalent units, up 3.5 percent year on year.

The cargo throughput rose 6.2 percent from a year earlier to 3.85 billion tonnes, and the passenger throughput soared 71.8 percent year on year to 19.35 million trips.

In March alone, the country saw its container throughput, cargo throughput and passenger throughput rise 7.6 percent, 12.8 percent and 118.9 percent, respectively.

WATERWAY TRANSPORT

China's waterway transport network handled 51.18 million passenger trips during the first quarter, surging 93.3 percent year on year.

The waterway freight volume increased 5.4 percent year on year to nearly 2.04 billion tonnes during the same period.

In March alone, China's waterway passenger trips and freight volume rose 179.1 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.

URBAN PASSENGER TRANSPORT

China's rail transit lines in urban areas reported 6.18 billion passenger trips in the first quarter, an increase of 24.7 percent year on year.

Ferries handled 17.01 million passenger trips during the same period, up 79.7 percent from a year earlier.

In March alone, urban rail transit lines and ferries saw passenger trips increase of 59.1 percent and 121.4 percent, respectively.