BEIJING - The growth rate of China's national freight volume, an indicator of economic activity, accelerated in May, official data showed Tuesday.

Railways, highways and waterways carried a total of 4.06 billion tons of cargo in May, up 9.9 percent year on year, 0.2 percentage points higher than the growth in April, Ministry of Transport data showed.

Freight volume for the first five months rose 9.5 percent year on year to 17.62 billion tons, according to the ministry.
In May, rail freight volume rose 14 percent year on year to 300 million tons, it said.

Highway freight volume increased 10.3 percent year on year to 3.2 billion tons while waterway freight volume rose 5.6 percent to 560 million tons in May.