Minister of Transportation Separates Logistics Transportation to Overcome Ketapang - Gilimanuk Traffic Jams

Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Dudy Purwagandhi speaks during a discussion with the media crew, in Jakarta, Friday (26/6/2026). (Antara - Harianto)

JAKARTA - Minister of Transportation Dudy Purwagandhi emphasized that the government would overcome congestion on the Ketapang-Gilimanuk route by separating logistics and passenger transportation services, in order to improve the smoothness of the crossing port.

"So we want to separate the freight and passenger transportation services, as we do in Merak-Bakauheni, we will do in Ketapang-Gilimanuk," said the Minister of Transportation, confirmed in Jakarta, Saturday.

He said the government had collaborated with the Bali Provincial Government and a number of stakeholders to increase the capacity of crossing services in Gilimanuk as part of efforts to reduce density.

According to Dudy, the capacity increase will be carried out by optimizing facilities in the Celukan Bawang area which is planned to become a logistics transportation service point, adopting a handling pattern that has been applied to the Merak-Bakauheni track.

"With the Governor of Bali and me, we have collaborated with Pelindo to be able to add especially in Gilimanuk, there is Pelindo there is Celukan Bawang, its capacity will be increased," he said.

"There is a plan for logistics. The pattern is more or less the same as we divide Merak-Bakauheni," said Dudypula.

He explained that the government would separate passenger and freight transportation services, so that vehicle traffic would no longer be concentrated at one port, which is expected to improve the smooth operation of the Ketapang-Gilimanuk crossing.

"So we will have a separation between passenger transportation and then also freight transportation. Hopefully, if the separation is, it will not be concentrated in one port only," he said again.

With this separation, the government hopes that vehicle queues can be reduced, because the services of goods and passenger transportation no longer affect each other in the process of loading and unloading ships.

Dudy said the target for the implementation of the new pattern can be realized no later than before the 2027 Lebaran transportation period, so that it can anticipate the surge in community and logistics mobility.

According to him, the density during the Christmas and New Year holidays 2026/2027 is estimated to be lower than the Lebaran transportation, so the government prioritizes the readiness of infrastructure ahead of the next homecoming season.

He explained that the recent congestion on the Ketapang-Gilimanuk track was triggered by the damage to the Bulusan Pier, so that some of the crossing services had to be diverted to the pier owned by PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry.

The transfer caused the operational burden of the PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry pier to increase, because it had to serve additional vehicles that previously used the Bulusan Pier.

Dudy said one of the main obstacles arose because many large-tonnage logistics vehicles that were previously served by Bulusan Wharf had to use a pier with more limited capacity.

Due to the limited capacity, the service for heavy-tonnage trucks is less optimal, which affects the smooth flow of vehicles that want to cross to Bali Island and Java.

"If Bulusan is managed by the local government, damage occurs so that we have to move from Bulusan to the ASDP pier. Well, one of the constraints of the ASDP pier is limited capacity," said Dudy.

In addition to the damage to the pier, the carrying capacity of the crossing is also reduced because one of the ship operators is experiencing a disruption so that the number of ships operating is not optimal.

The Ministry of Transportation has asked PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry to coordinate with the East Java Provincial Government, so that the repair of the Bulusan Pier can be completed immediately and returned to operation.

According to him, with the improvement of infrastructure and the implementation of the separation of freight and passenger transportation services, it is able to prevent repeated congestion and make the Ketapang-Gilimanuk crossing more smooth in the future.

"We hope that the repair of the Bulusan pier can be carried out immediately, so that when Christmas and New Year and Lebaran, it will not be an obstacle in crossing from Ketapang and Gilimanuk and vice versa," said the Minister of Transportation as reported by Antara.