Water transportation has beenplaying an increasinglyimportant role in China'snational economic development. Today，95% of crude oil and 99% of iron ore istransported by water.

In the first quarter of 2007 alone， thelisted logistics companies in the watertransportation industry generated totalrevenue of RMB 5.8 billion Yuan， whichwas up 10.57% over the previous year，however still 2 percentage points lowerthan the increase from 2006， The overallperformance of China's shipping indus-try has been heavily influenced by thewide seasonal fluctuations of the interna-tional freight index.