Freight volume · 2025
59.67bn tonnes
The NBS total includes rail, road, waterway, civil aviation and pipeline.
Transport · freight networks
Freight volume and freight turnover
“How many tonnes moved?” and “how far were those tonnes carried?” are different questions. In 2025 China moved 59.67 billion tonnes of freight and completed 27.41 trillion tonne-km. Road carried the most tonnes, while waterway generated the most tonne-kilometres.
Freight turnover · 2025
27.41trillion tonne-km
Tonne-km weights freight mass by distance and is not interchangeable with tonnes.
Road share of tonnage · 2025
72.5%
Road freight volume: 43.29 billion tonnes.
Waterway share of turnover · 2025
54.7%
Long-haul bulk movements make waterway much more prominent in tonne-km than in tonnes.
Two measures, two questions
Tonnes measure how much moved; tonne-km measure how much moved × how far
Freight volume measures cargo mass. Freight turnover multiplies that mass by transport distance. A mode can carry a large share of tonnes without contributing the same share of tonne-km. Port cargo throughput and airport cargo throughput are different statistical objects and cannot substitute for national transport output.
Statistical scope breaks
Road scope revised in 2019; pipeline excluded from the 2020 total; five-mode total restored in 2021
NBS notes that Ministry of Transport survey work revised road freight volume and turnover statistics in 2019, making 2018 and 2019 not directly comparable. In 2020 pipeline data were still under verification after the National Pipeline Network Group was formed, so the national total covered only rail, road, waterway and civil aviation. From 2021 the published total again explicitly covers all five modes. This page encodes those breaks with separate series IDs.
National total
Freight transport volume, 2017–2025
Different statistical-scope segments are not connected; 2019 and 2020 appear as separate snapshots.
Source: NBS · 2019 Statistical Communique ↗ · NBS · 2020 Statistical Communique ↗ · NBS · 2025 Statistical Communique ↗ · The 2017–2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021–2025 totals use separate series.chinainfigures.com
Distance-weighted transport output
Freight transport turnover, 2017–2025
Measured in billion tonne-km, with the same total-scope breaks as freight volume.
Source: NBS · 2019 Statistical Communique ↗ · NBS · 2020 Statistical Communique ↗ · NBS · 2025 Statistical Communique ↗ · Tonne-km and tonnes are different measures and are not plotted on one shared axis.chinainfigures.com
2025
Freight tonnage share by mode
Road dominates the mass of freight carried.
Source: NBS · 2025 Statistical Communique ↗ · The five modes reconcile to the NBS national total subject only to source rounding.chinainfigures.com
2025
Freight turnover share by mode
Waterway has the largest share of distance-weighted transport work.
Source: NBS · 2025 Statistical Communique ↗ · All values come from the same annual NBS transport table.chinainfigures.com
Exact annual values
NBS freight transport table, 2017–2025
| Year | Total volume (bn t) | Total turnover (bn t-km) | Rail volume | Road volume | Waterway volume | Aviation (mn t) | Pipeline volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 47.94 | 19,613.04 | 3.69 | 36.80 | 6.66 | 7.058 | 0.79 |
| 2018 | 51.46 | 20,545.16 | 4.03 | 39.59 | 6.99 | 7.385 | 0.85 |
| 2019 | 47.06 | 19,928.95 | 4.32 | 34.35 | 7.47 | 7.532 | 0.91 |
| 2020 | 46.34 | 19,661.83 | 4.46 | 34.26 | 7.62 | 6.766 | — |
| 2021 | 52.97 | 22,357.44 | 4.72 | 39.14 | 8.24 | 7.318 | 0.87 |
| 2022 | 51.47 | 23,174.35 | 4.93 | 37.12 | 8.55 | 6.076 | 0.86 |
| 2023 | 55.68 | 24,771.27 | 5.01 | 40.34 | 9.37 | 7.354 | 0.95 |
| 2024 | 57.83 | 26,194.81 | 5.17 | 41.88 | 9.81 | 8.982 | 0.95 |
| 2025 | 59.67 | 27,411.58 | 5.28 | 43.29 | 10.12 | 10.172 | 0.97 |
Downloads and revisions
Use the data and track changes
The page CSV retains years, units, source IDs, verification status and comparability warnings. Each chart also offers its current data as CSV, PNG or SVG.
Page data
Download full CSV
Includes registered formal points, available historical series and scalar derived metrics. UTF-8 encoded for spreadsheets and analysis tools.
Download CSV ↓Data file updated: 15 Aug 2026
Citation
Copy a traceable citation
The title, latest formal data year and source organizations come from existing publication metadata; the access date and current page URL are added when you click.
Copy uses the URL currently open in your browser.
Public record
Revision and update timeline
Freight volume and freight turnover indicator prepared
Added 106 formal observations from nine archived NBS annual communiques for total and modal freight tonnage and tonne-kilometres. The 2019 road statistical-scope revision and 2020 four-mode total are encoded as separate series, with pipeline left missing in 2020.
Related sources: National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗ · National Bureau of Statistics of China ↗
Sources and definitions registered; automated checks passed
Data downloads and revision timeline added
Added page-level formal-data CSV files, chart-level CSV/PNG/SVG exports and a bilingual revision timeline to all indicator pages.
Sources and definitions registered; automated checks passed