The national transportation network has balanced out amid the pandemic and the problem of traffic snarls has been largely cleared, a Chinese government official said on Thursday.

Since May 4, the temporarily closed expressway toll stations and service areas nationwide have been largely cleared, and since May 10, the number of villages where the transportation of materials has been blocked due to epidemic prevention and control measures have also been dynamically brought to zero, Li Huaqiang, an official with China’s Ministry of Transport, told a press conference on Thursday.

Based on the current achievements, the ministry vowed to further strengthen sector supervision, preventing the increase of traffic control measures and the resurgence of “one-size-fits-all” measures, and effectively solving the “last mile” problem of logistics and distribution.

Compared with mid-April, expressway freight traffic increased by about 10.9 percent on Tuesday, while railway and road freight traffic was up by 9.2 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively, both returning to 90 percent of normal levels, data from the ministry revealed.

Last week, the average daily business volume of postal express across the country recovered to the level of the same period last year. In terms of resumption of work and production, the daily container throughput at Shanghai Port has risen to 95.3 percent of the normal level, and the average daily cargo and mail throughput of Shanghai’s Pudong Airport during peak hours has recovered to about 80 percent of the level before the COVID-19 resurgence, according to official data.

As the summer harvest season has begun in major summer grain production bases across the country, the ministry said it will instruct localities to include chemical fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, agricultural machinery and other agricultural production materials into the scope of key material transportation guarantees, making sure of the smooth transportation of agricultural materials.

Currently, more than 90 percent of the grain in southwest China has been harvested, while the harvesting of grain in Central China’s Hubei Province and East China’s Anhui Province has also started. Meanwhile, the grain in north China is about to mature in the days ahead.

Global Times