China sees big increases in transport sector

China's transport sector has seen a good start in January, with double-digit growth in investment and freight volume compared with the same period in 2019, the Ministry of Transport said on Friday.

In January, the country invested 191.2 billion yuan ($29.54 billion) in fixed assets in the transport sector, a rise of 42.1 percent compared with last year and an increase of 13.8 percent compared with 2019, ministry spokesman Sun Wenjian said at a news conference.

The industry handled 4.15 billion metric tons of commercial freight, an increase of 38 percent compared with last year and 11.1 percent higher than in January 2019.

"It is the ninth consecutive month the volume of commercial freight has remained growing since last May," he said.

Port cargo throughput also saw a big increase in January. A total of 1.29 billion tons of cargo was handled in ports, a year-on-year increase of 17.4 percent and 13.4 percent higher than in January 2019.

The port's cargo throughput has achieved positive growth for 10 consecutive months since April.

Although freight traffic increased, people's travel dropped significantly due to COVID-19 prevention measures.

In January, 670 million passenger trips were made across China, a year-on-year drop of 47.3 percent.