China embarks on highway extension plan

China’s total highway length is to top three million kilometers by 2020, an increase of 50% from 2008, according to a plan released by the Ministry of Transport of China (MOT), Xinhua reported.

Of the total, express highways will reach about 100,000 kilometers by 2020.

China’s highways totaled 1.995 million kilometers and express highways had total length of 60,300 kilometres by the end of 2008.

CargoNews Asia reported that the plan is also that by 2020, the annual throughput of China’s coastal ports will rise to over 6.5 billion tonnes, from 4.4 billion tonnes in 2008.

The throughput of containers will reach 240 million TEUs by 2020 from 128 million in 2008.