Minister of Transportation Assigned to Coordinate Efforts to Reduce Severe Traffic Jams at Gilimanuk

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) is optimizing various steps to reduce vehicle density on the route to Gilimanuk Port to facilitate the 2026 Lebaran homecoming flow.

Minister of Transportation Dudy Purwagandhi said that this effort was carried out through intensive coordination in the field by the Bali Land Transportation Management Agency (BPTD) together with related stakeholders, including the police, ship operators, port authorities, security personnel, and local governments.

"The Ministry of Transportation continues to strive to ensure that all transportation services can run safely, smoothly, and under control," said the Minister of Transportation, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, March 16.

He said his party also encouraged the acceleration of various operational steps in the field to accelerate the decomposition of vehicle and passenger density in the Gilimanuk area, so that public mobility is still well served.

"To increase the effectiveness of coordination, I have ordered the Deputy Minister of Transportation (Suntana) and the Director General of Land Transportation (Aan Suhanan) to go directly to Gilimanuk," said the Minister of Transportation.

Until today, the queue of vehicles heading to the Gilimanuk Port has been observed to be dense, with a dominance of two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles that want to cross to Java Island. Various strategic steps continue to be taken to ensure that the cross-over transportation service continues to run optimally in the midst of increasing vehicle volumes.

To speed up vehicle movement and facilitate the crossing flow, the number of ships operated reached 35 ships, from the existing 28 and an additional 7 ships, with a service pattern of 8 trips.

The ships consist of 19 ships operating on dermagamoveable bridges (MB), 11 ships on derma landing craft machines (LCM), and 4 additional ships that are seconded to increase the capacity of the crossing.

In addition to adding fleets, the Ministry of Transportation has also implemented a number of operational steps in the field, including through the Tiba-Bongkar-Berangkat (TBB) scheme to accelerate the rotation of ships, as well as accelerating the loading and unloading process to facilitate the canalization of small vehicles.

"Vehicle traffic arrangements are also strengthened through the operation of the buffer zone of the Gilimanuk Port cargo terminal and the optimization of the function of the Cekik UPPKB as a vehicle control point before entering the Port area," added the Minister of Transportation.

Meanwhile, based on weather monitoring from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) at 11.55 WITA, the condition of the waters in the Bali Strait was observed to be conducive for navigation.

The weather was reported to be cloudy with low waves of about 1 meter, visibility reaching 10 kilometers, and water currents heading north at a speed of about 2.5 knots.

"The Ministry of Transportation will continue to intensively monitor the operational conditions of the crossing and coordinate with all related parties to ensure the smooth running of transportation services across Ketapang-Gilimanuk," said the Minister of Transportation.