Anticipating The Peak Of Homecoming, ASDP Adds 40 Merak-Bakauheni Ships

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) has prepared steps to anticipate the surge of homecomers who will cross from Java to Sumatra at the peak of the homecoming flow which will begin today or D-4 Lebaran. One of them is to increase the number of Merak-Bakauheni ships to 40 units.

PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) Corporate Secretary Shelvy Arifin said since D-9 the flow of vehicles and passengers crossing from Merak to Bakauheni has increased significantly, especially private cars and logistics trucks.

Furthermore, Shelvy explained that the high volume of vehicles arriving at the same time at night had an impact on the queue of vehicles at the port that would board the ship.

At the discretion of the Police, to anticipate queues at the Merak Port parking lot due to the high volume of vehicles, an open and close system is carried out on the Cikuasa Atas route or after the Merak exit toll.

"We apologize for the inconvenience of service users who experience long queues when going to the port or when going to board the ship. We continue to coordinate with relevant stakeholders so that this incident does not happen again, and also continue to improve services," he said in an official statement, Thursday, 28 April.

Shelvy said that several anticipatory steps would be taken to deal with the potential for significant queues during the peak of the homecoming flow. Among other things, adding ships on the Merak - Bakauheni route from 29 to 40 ships.

"Adding trips, operating ships measuring above 10,000 GRT, accelerating loading and unloading times (port time) and also operating the Merak 1 dock after repairs are carried out to support the increase in crossing production," he said.

ASDP continues to appeal to all service users who will travel back and forth by ferry, especially on the Merak-Bakauheni cross, to arrange travel times and make ticket reservations independently through the Ferizy application and Ferizy's official Sales Channel, namely Alfamart outlets and / BRILink agents.

"Please arrange the trip as early as possible to avoid queues at the port. For users of the Merak-Bakauheni executive service, make sure you arrive at the port according to the selected port entry hour considering the limited quota. The check time at the port is 3 hours before the scheduled port entry," said Shelvy .

In addition, service users must maintain the health stamina of both drivers and vehicles, obey health protocols wherever they are, and remain aware of the potential for bad weather. Cooperation and awareness of all service users and officers in the field is very important, so that the trip back and forth by ferry, continues to run smoothly, safely and safely.

"We also ask for the understanding of service users, to remain patient and disciplined in managing travel times because nearing the peak of the homecoming flow, the volume of travelers and vehicles continues to increase, especially at night until the early hours of the morning so that it has an impact on the queue when going to the ship," he said.

Based on Posko data from April 22 (D-10) to Thursday, April 28 morning (D-5), it was recorded that 306,898 people and 72,540 vehicles had left Java for Sumatra via Merak Port, Banten.

From the total number of vehicles, 13,623 two-wheeled vehicles can be specified, 38,029 four-wheelers, 2,370 buses and 18,518 trucks that have crossed from Merak to Bakauheni since D-10 to D-5.

Shelvy explained that the potential for increasing passenger and vehicle traffic during the Lebaran period this year was due to the absence of a homecoming ban, and the abolition of collective leave holidays.

"ASDP has anticipated by maximizing the capacity of both ships and port terminals. It is predicted that the peak of the homecoming flow will be on 29 and 30 April 2022 (D-3 and D-2), and the predicted return flow will be on 7 and 8 May 2022 (D). +4 and H+5)," said Shelvy.