Minister Of Transportation Budi Karya Asks Sea Transportation Operators To Prioritize Safety For The 2022 Eid Homecoming

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi asked operators of marine transportation facilities and infrastructure to prioritize safety aspects by anticipating areas with high passenger levels.

This was conveyed by the Minister of Transportation during an inspection of the Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta, Sunday, April 10, in order to check the readiness of sea transportation in the face of the Eid homecoming period in 2022.

"In the coordination meeting, an area has been identified that is experiencing an increase in passengers. PT Pelni said earlier that there was one area that was 100 percent occupied, for that I asked for rerouting of ships in crowded areas, so that it is hoped that there will be no overloading," said Minister of Transportation Budi, reported by Antara.

The Minister of Transportation revealed a number of areas prone to overloading, including Madura, Selayar, Samarinda, Banjarmasin, Pangkalan Bun and Batam.

To ensure the safety aspects of shipping are met, the Minister of Transportation expressly asked for a sampling test or inspection of the airworthiness of ships operating during the homecoming period, including conducting health checks on ship crews.

He further explained that in order to suppress the high number of homecomers who will use motorbikes, a free homecoming program will be prepared via ships.

"People pay for boat tickets, the motorbike can be transported for free, with the aim of going to Semarang and Surabaya," he said.

Furthermore, the Minister of Transportation also appreciated the collaboration plan between the Indonesian National Shipowners Association (INSA) and the Indonesian Logistics and Forwarder Association (ALFI), which supports the provision of ships to support logistics distribution by sea, following the policy of restricting logistics transportation by land during the homecoming period.

Based on the results of a survey by the Transportation Research and Development Agency (Balitbanghub), it is predicted that the number of homecomers who will use sea transportation during the Lebaran period in 2022 will reach 1.4 million people.

This prediction figure is much higher than the number of passengers during the Eid transportation period 2020-2021 ago.

To anticipate the surge in passengers, a fleet of 1,186 ships has been prepared from PT Pelni, pioneering fleets, and private fleets, which in total are capable of carrying as many as 2.4 million passengers.