CHINA'S transport sector, which shook off of two consecutive months of the doldrums in January, saw a slow-down in growth again in February, according to the State Statistics Bureau. Freight transport volume in the first two months of this year went up only 4.7 per cent, a much slower growth rate than the 10.9 per cent rise in January, but still far above the 0.2 per cent decline for the whole of last year, the bureau said. Freight transport volume stood at 432 million tonnes in the first two months of this year, the report said. Of the total, rail freight registered was up 3.8 per cent to 246 million tonnes. In February alone, the railways transported 115 million tonnes of cargo. Last year's rail total was 1.57 billion tonnes, 2.9 per cent more than in 1992. Truck freight in the period slipped by 2.2 per cent to 81 million tonnes, compared with a decrease of 9.5 per cent last year over 1992. River freight witnessed a growth of 13.3 per cent in the first two months, to hit 104 million tonnes. The growth rate last year was only 1.5 per cent. Air freight soared 23.8 per cent to 109,000 tonnes in the first two months of this year, compared with the 20.9 per cent increase registered in 1993. Freight turnover in the two months - an important indicator in monitoring unit labour productivity and economic efficiency - witnessed a growth of 7.7 per cent to hit 412.21 tonne-kilometres. Last year's increase was 2.6 per cent. Of the total, railways reported a six per cent rise to 188.38 billion tonne-kilometres, while truck freight turnover edged up 1.9 per cent to 4.71 billion tonne-kilometres. Air freight turnover generated 248 million tonne-kilometres, a 20.8 per cent jump.
