Unraveling Merak Density During Lebaran Homecoming, Pelindo Prepares Bojonegara Port

JAKARTA - PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Persero) or Pelindo is preparing the Bojonegara Port, Serang Regency, Banten to become an additional port. This port is prepared to unravel the density of Merak Port during the 2025 Eid homecoming.

For your information, Bojonegara is the second additional port, after Ciwandan, which has been operated as an additional port for the last four years.

Pelindo's Managing Director, Putut Sri Muljanto, explained that the Bojonegara Port was also operated to assist PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) to unravel the density of crossings during the peak homecoming flow.

Later, continued Putut, Bojonegara Port will only be used for crossing private vehicles, not trucks.

Meanwhile, Ciwandan is used for motorcycle crossings, and some trucks for reasons of balance on board.

"This year we have the task again to prepare Bojonegara as a backup if it turns out that later on the peak day there will be a density," said Putut in Jakarta, Thursday, March 13.

Putut said the area of land used to serve crossings reached 3.3 hectares (ha).

Regarding the operation of the port, Putut admitted that his party was waiting for an order from the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub).

"Our Bojonegara has prepared, today it is being accelerated to complete it, because we clean around 3.3 hectares of land and there is 1 mooring," he said.

Putut said the land clearing process was still being carried out.

He targets the port to be ready to operate before March 20, 2025.

"So we are waiting for orders later from the Ministry of Transportation but in terms of facilities we are preparing and will be ready before March 20," he explained.

Previously, the Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Dudy Purwagandhi revealed that there were three crossing zones to support the smooth running of traffic in Merak, Banten, during the 2025 Eid homecoming transportation.

Dudy said that Merak Port itself will be specifically for private vehicles and public transportation, in this case buses.

"For Merak, we divide into three zones. The zone in Merak itself, it is specifically for private vehicles and public transportation, such as buses," said Dudy when met at the DPR RI Building, Jakarta, Tuesday, March 11.

Meanwhile, continued Dudy, heavy goods transportation is still operating in accordance with the restrictions at the Bandar Bakau Jaya Port (BBJ) Bojonegara.

"For the transportation of motorbikes and transportation of goods with a small capacity in Ciwandan. That's what we are currently using, hopefully with this distribution, this point will not cause problems," he said.

Based on the results of a survey conducted by the Transportation Policy Agency, the potential movement of people during the Lebaran 2025 holiday is predicted to reach 146.48 million people, or about 52 percent of the total population of Indonesia.

The peak of the homecoming flow is predicted to occur on D-3 or March 28, 2025, while the peak of backflow is predicted to occur on D+5 or April 6, 2025.

The largest distribution of regions from homecomers, namely West Java, is 30.9 million people (21.1 percent), East Java 26.4 million people (18 percent) and Central Java 23.3 million people (15.9 percent. Meanwhile, the main destination areas for travelers are Central Java 36.6 million people (25 percent), East Java 27.4 million people (18.7 percent), and West Java 22.1 million people (15.1 percent).