According to China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), freight volumes handled at China’s large-scale ports amounted to 11.2 billion mt in 2014, up 4.8 percent year on year, with this growth rate 4.1 percentage points lower than in 2013. In particular, foreign trade accounted for 3.5 billion mt of the total, up 5.9 percent, while the share of domestic trade amounted to 7.7 billion mt, up 4.3 percent, both year on year, with these growth rates down 3.8 percentage points and decreasing by 4.3 percentage points compared to 2013, respectively.
At the same time, the volume of containers handled at large-scale ports in China amounted to 200 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) in 2014, up 6.1 percent year on year, with the growth rate down one percentage point compared to 2013.
Due to slow growth in related industries and insufficient supply of commodities, freight volumes on Chinese railways in 2014 amounted to 3.81 billion mt, down 3.9 percent year on year.