BEIJING, June 28 -- China's transportation sector maintained steady operation in the first five months of the year, with multiple indicators including passenger and freight volume registering growth, according to official data released on Friday.

In the January-May period, the country's road network facilitated approximately 25.23 billion passenger trips, up 7.4 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Some 103.97 million passenger trips were made via China's waterways during the same period, an increase of 6.7 percent year on year, according to the data.

Freight volume via road rose 4.4 percent from the same period last year to more than 16.22 billion tonnes while cargo transported via waterways increased 7 percent year on year to 3.86 billion tonnes, the data showed.

In the first five months, China's port cargo throughput went up 4.9 percent year on year to nearly 7.08 billion tonnes, and the container throughput increased by 8.8 percent year on year to 132.84 million twenty-foot-equivalent units, said the ministry.