Ministry of Transport: The number of people moving across regions was 34.17 billion in the first half of the year, an increase of 1.2% year-on-year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on July 22, the Ministry of Transport announced the operation of the transportation economy for the first half of 2026. In the first half of the year, the transportation economy was generally running smoothly. The main indicators continued to grow, and commercial freight volume, port cargo throughput, and the scale of people moving across regions continued to increase. In terms of cross-regional personnel turnover, 34.17 billion people moved across regions in the first half of the year, up 1.2% year on year, of which the second quarter increased 0.1% year on year. By method, the number of completed road traffic was 31.32 billion, an increase of 0.9% over the previous year; the number of completed waterway passenger traffic was 130 million, an increase of 4.3% over the previous year.

The original text is as follows:

Transport economy performance in the first half of 2026

In the first half of the year, the transportation economy was generally running smoothly, and the main indicators continued to grow. Commercial freight volume, port cargo throughput, and the scale of people moving across regions continued to increase, providing a strong guarantee of transportation services for stable and healthy economic and social development.

I. Commercial freight volume

In the first half of the year, completed commercial freight volume of 28.07 billion tons, up 3.2% year on year, of which the second quarter increased 2.4% year on year. By method, completed road freight volume was 21.22 billion tons, up 3.2% year on year; completed water freight volume was 4.23 billion tons, up 3.9% year on year.

Figure 1 Changes in the monthly year-on-year growth rate of commercial freight volume

II. Port cargo throughput

In the first half of the year, the country's ports completed cargo throughput of 9.07 billion tons, an increase of 2.0% year on year, with a year-on-year increase of 0.1% in the second quarter. By structure, domestic trade throughput increased 1.0% year on year, and foreign trade throughput increased 4.3% year on year. The completed container throughput was 180 million TEUs, an increase of 5.9% over the previous year.

Figure 2 Changes in the monthly year-on-year growth rate of port cargo throughput

III. Personnel turnover

In terms of cross-regional personnel turnover, 34.17 billion people moved across regions in the first half of the year, up 1.2% year on year, of which the second quarter increased 0.1% year on year. By method, the number of completed road traffic was 31.32 billion, an increase of 0.9% over the previous year; the number of completed waterway passenger traffic was 130 million, an increase of 4.3% over the previous year.

Figure 3 Changes in the monthly year-on-year growth rate of people movement across regions

In terms of urban passenger traffic, the first half of the year completed the city's passenger traffic volume of 52.7 billion, an increase of 2.0% over the previous year, with a 2.9% year-on-year increase in the second quarter. By method, urban rail transit and taxis completed passenger traffic of 16.76 billion passengers and 17.91 billion passengers respectively, up 3.9% and 5.5% year-on-year respectively; buses, trams, and urban passenger ferries completed 17.99 billion passengers and 35.141,000 passengers respectively, down 2.8% and 3.3% year-on-year respectively.

IV. Transportation fixed asset investment

In the first half of the year, 1.5 trillion yuan was invested in fixed transportation assets, of which 1.0 trillion yuan and 109.9 billion yuan were invested in highway and water transport respectively.

(The above comprehensive statistics are from the Integrated Planning Department of the Ministry of Transport)

This article was selected from the “Ministry of Transport” official website, Zhitong Finance Editor: Feng Qiuyi.