The Ministry of Transportation's Efforts to Overcome the Horrible Traffic at Gilimanuk Port, Add Armada to 35 Ships

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) is preparing a number of steps to overcome the horror traffic jam that occurred in the Gilimanuk Port area, Bali. It was observed that the road to the port was still crowded with two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles that wanted to cross to Java Island.

Minister of Transportation Dudy Purwagandhi said the government had increased the number of ships serving the Gilimanuk-Ketapang crossing to 35 units to speed up the vehicle crossing process.

The ships consist of 19 ships operating at the moveable bridge (MB) pier, 11 ships at the landing craft machine (LCM) pier, and 4 additional ships that are seconded to increase the capacity of the crossing.

In addition to adding the fleet, the Ministry of Transportation has also prepared a buffer zone to accommodate large vehicles so that they do not immediately enter the port area. This step is taken to disperse the queue while giving priority to small vehicles, buses, and motorcycles.

"What is certain is that we are preparing a buffer zone in Gilimanuk, we are adding ships, then we separate large vehicles, we put them into the buffer zone so that small vehicles and buses can be prioritized," said Dudy when met in Jakarta, Monday, March 16.

Dudy said the policy also considered the aspects of safety and comfort for travelers, especially two-wheeled vehicle users who are more vulnerable to weather during the trip.

"Then we also prioritize two-wheeled vehicles, because two-wheelers don't have roofs and so on, so we allow them to enter first," he said.

For information, based on weather monitoring from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency 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.