Minister Of Transportation Budi Karya: Carts And Fleet Of Sea Toll Vessels Significantly Rise For 10 Years

Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi revealed that the Sea Toll program has experienced a significant increase in both terms of the number of routes, cargo, and fleets of ships for 10 years serving the Indonesian people.

"In 2015 we started a Sea Toll service that connects points in the west and east, from the initial 3 routes to 39 routes," he said in an official statement, Tuesday, October 1.

Budi said via the Sea Toll Road, the government is committed to supporting the development of underdeveloped, frontier, outermost and border areas (3TP). The purpose of the Sea Toll Road is to avoid scarcity of goods and reduce price disparities.

Furthermore, Budi said the number of charges developed from 2015 which only contained 30 tons with 88 TEUs to 989.75 tons with 31.878 TEUs in 2023.

"The number of ships, which initially in 2015 was only 3 ships, has grown to 39 ships by 2024," he said.

Then, continued Budi, the number of routes also experienced developments from 2015, which only had 3 routes to 39 routes in 2024. Meanwhile, the number of Singgah Ports from the beginning in 2015 was only 11 ports developing to 114 ports in 2024.

"We discussed with the ISA (Indonesian National Shipowners' Association) to see which routes need to be subsidized and which can already be commercial. When one route can be commercial, we will switch subsidies to other routes," he said.

Budi assessed that the existence of the Sea Highway has opened up new economic opportunities in the areas that were traversed, which were previously difficult to develop due to limited access to transportation.

"Moreover, the Sea Toll Road is not only a means of transportation, but also a humanitarian bridge that connects all corners of the country, especially in supporting religious holidays and transporting humanitarian aid and natural disasters," he said.

As a means of logistics transportation, the Sea Toll Road not only sends goods to these areas, but also brings back local production results, thus creating a healthy and sustainable economic cycle.

Therefore, Budi encourages good collaboration between the central government and local governments so that the function of sea toll transportation can be maximized, both for shipping goods and bringing back local production results.

"We hope that the local government will be more proactive in encouraging regional productivity," he said.