In 2008, the transport industry fully carried out the scientific outlook on development and spared no efforts in improving its capacity and level on “Three Servings”, namely, serving for national economic and social development, for building of socialistic rural areas and for people’s safe and convenient travel. The industry changed its development mode, adjusted development structure and insisted on innovation, so as to improve its capacity of public service. New achievements were made in construction of transport infrastructure and the capacities of guaranteeing transport services and of safety monitoring and assistance were improved. Hence, a new solid step was made towards the objectives of the “11th Five-Year Plan”.

1.Transport infrastructure

(1)Highway

The length of highways continued to increase and the share of rural highways was considerably raised. By the end of 2008, the length of national highways totaled 3.7302mn km, 146,4000km longer over the previous year.

The highway density continued to increase and the accessibility level was significantly improved. The national highway density was 38.86km/100sq.km, 1.53km/100sq.km denser over the previous year. The towns with highways accounted for 99.24 percent of the total towns of the country, and villages with highways accounted for 92.86 percent of total villages countrywide, up by 0.28 and 4.62 percent respectively.

(2)Inland waterway

The length of national navigable inland waterways totaled 122,800km, of which, waterways above levels reached 61,100km, accounting for 49.8 percent of the total, up by 0.2 percent YOY; waterways at level III and above reached 8,800km, accounting for 7.2 percent of the total, up by 0.1 percent YOY; and waterways above level V and above reached 24,600km, accounting for 20.0 percent, up by 0.3 percent YOY.

(3)Port

There were 413 ports in China by the end of 2008, of which, there were 36 coastal ports with annual handling capacity of 10mn tons or above and 87 inland ports with annual handling capacity of 2mn tons.

By the end of 2008, there were 31,050 port berths for production in the country, 1,416 of which were berths with capacity of 10,000t or above. Coastal ports had 5,119 berths for production of the country, 1,157 of which were berths with capacity of 10,000t or above; and inland ports had 25,931 berths for production, 259 of which were berths with capacity of 10,000t.

2.Highway and water transport equipment

Vehicles for highway transport

For-hire vehicles reached 9.3061mn in China by the end of 2008. There were 1.6964mn passenger cars with 25.6036mn seats, 255,000 of which were large passenger cars with 10.9644mn seats; 7.6097mn trucks with carrying capacity of 36.862mn tons, of which, 72.018mn were general trucks with carrying capacity of 31.3976mn tons and 407,900 were special trucks with carrying capacity of 54.644mn tons.

Vessels for water transport

The transport structure was further optimized. By the end of 2008, there were 184,200 vessels for water transport in China, 76,000 less than that of the previous year. The net deadweight totaled 124.1691mn tons, 5.3546mn tons heavier than that in the previous year. The average net deadweight totaled 674.14t, 54.57t heavier than that in the previous year.

3.Volume of transport by highway and waterway

Highway transport

In 2008, for-fire passenger cars transported 26.821bn passengers and the passenger turnover reached 1.247611tn passengers-km. The average transport distance was 46.52km. For-fire trucks transported 19.168bn tons and the freight turnover reached 3.286819tn ton-km. The average transport distance was 172.48km.

Water transport

In 2008, the freight volume by water transport reached 2.945bn tons, freight turnover was 5.026274tn ton-km and the average transport distance was 1706.66km. The passenger volume by water transport reached 203mn, passenger turnover was 5.918bn passenger-km and the average transport distance was 29.10km.

4.National highway traffic
The national highway traffic slightly dropped. The average daily national highway traffic was 10,317 cars per day (volumetric standard small passenger car, the same below) in 2008, down by 1.5 percent YOY.

The congestion degree of national highways was decreased. The average annual congestion degree of national highway was 0.39, down by 5.5 percent YOY. The national highways in Beijing, Hebei, Shanghai and Guangdong were relatively crowded, the average congestion degree of which exceeded 0.6.

5.Port cargo handling capacity

Port cargo handling capacity remained growth and totaled 7.022bn tons in 2008, up by 9.6 percent YOY with the growth rate down by 5.5 percent over the previous year.

The growth rate of container handling capacity went down. The port container handling capacity of China reached 128mn TEU in 2008, up by 12.1 percent YOY with the growth rate down by 10.2 percent over the previous year. Of it, coastal ports reached 117bn TEU, up by 11.5 percent YOY and inland ports, 11.58mn TEU, up by 18.9 percent YOY.

The share of mining and building materials, metal minerals, mechanical equipment and electrical appliances increased rapidly among goods in port. The cargo handling capacity of ports above the designated scale in China reached 5.891bn tons, up by 11.9 percent YOY with the growth rate down by 2.6 percent over the previous year.

6.Fix-asset investment in transport sector

The scale of investment in transport infrastructure continued to grow and the growth rate slightly quickened. The fix-asset investment in transport sector reached RMB833.542bn in China in 2008, up by 7.2 percent YOY, with the growth rate up by 1.9 percent over the previous year while lower than the national fix-asset investment growth rate, namely, 22.5 percent.

Highway construction

The investment in highway construction steadily increased and reached RMB688.064bn in 2008, up by 6.0 percent YOY, with the growth rate up by 1.9 percent.

The length of newly-built highways reached 126,500km and that of reconstructed highways totaled 291,500km in 2008.

Water transport construction

The growth rate of investment in water transport construction obviously speeded up. The investment in coastal and freshwater constructions totaled RMB98.734bn in 2008, up by 11.4 percent YOY with the growth rate up by 9.4 percent.

Other construction

The investment in other constructions in the transport sector amounted to RMB46.744bn in 2008, up by 16.7 percent YOY, of which, the investment in maritime affairs system totaled RMB1.006bn, in assistance and salvage, RMB1.269bn, in scientific research and education, RMB931mn and in information and communication, RMB316mn.

7.Marine Safety and assistance and salvage
The marine safety steadily improved. There were 342 waterway traffic accidents in 2008 with 351 deaths, 213 wrecks and direct economic loss of RMB519mn, down by 18.6 percent, 5.6 percent and 14.1 percent and up by 29.1 percent respectively.