The added value of transportation, warehousing, post and telecommunications sectors reached 1.2032 trillion yuan in 2006, up 8.3 percent over the previous year.
The volume of freight handled by ports above the designated size throughout the country totaled 4.56 billion tons, up 15.6 percent year on year. Of this total, freight for foreign trade was 1.57 billion tons, up 16.8 percent. Container shipping handled 93 million standard containers, up 23 percent.
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Railway is one of the principal means of transport in China and the peak railway travel season is around the Spring Festival, China's lunar New Year. Pictured is a train on the Beijiang Railway in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The total number of motor vehicles for civilian use reached 49.85 million (including 13.99 million tri-wheel motor vehicles and low-speed trucks) at the end of 2006, up 15.2 percent year on year, of which, private vehicles numbered 29.25 million, an increase of 23.7 percent. The total number of cars for civilian use stood at 15.45 million, up 27.2 percent, of which, private cars came to 11.49 million, up 33.5 percent.
The turnover of postal and telecommunications services totaled 1.5321 trillion yuan, up 25.6 percent over the previous year. Of this total, postal services accounted for 72.9 billion yuan, up 16.9 percent, and telecommunications services had a share of 1.4592 trillion yuan, up 26.1 percent. At the end of 2006, with 30.67 million newly installed lines of office switchboards, the total capacity reached 500 million lines. The year also saw an increase of 17.37 million fixed telephone subscribers, bringing the total number to 367.81 million at the end of the year. This included 251.39 million urban subscribers and 116.42 million rural subscribers. Mobile phone users numbered 461.08 million at the end of 2006, with 67.68 million new subscribers in the year. In total, the number of fixed and mobile phone users reached 828.89 million, an increase of 85.05 million as compared with at the end of 2005. On average, phone coverage was 63 sets per 100 Chinese people.