BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhua) -- China reported 23.21 billion cross-regional passenger trips in first four months of the year, an increase of 2.1 percent year on year, the Ministry of Transport said on Wednesday.

Road passenger traffic rose 1.7 percent year on year, while waterway passenger trips increased by 7.4 percent.

During the period, China handled 18.17 billion tonnes of commercial cargo, a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent.

Total port cargo throughput reached 5.9 billion tonnes in first four months, up 3.1 percent year on year. Container throughput climbed 7.2 percent to 120 million twenty-foot equivalent units.

China completed more than 894.4 billion yuan (about 13.1 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed-asset investment in the transport sector in the first four months of the year.