1,000 Homecoming From Several Regions Arrive At Pantoloan Port, Palu

Homecomers carrying their children arrive at Pantoloan Harbor, Palu City, Central Sulawesi, Thursday 21/4/2022. ANTARA/Muhammad Izfaldi

PALU - PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (Pelni) Persero said that around 1,000 more of the first wave of travelers who came from a number of areas had arrived at the Pantoloan Port of Palu using KM Lambelu.

"The first wave of using sea transportation during the Lebaran 1443 Hijri homecoming season in 2022 has arrived, and there are still further waves to follow," said Head of PT Pelni Palu Branch Ismed Mulyadi while monitoring the homecoming flow at Pantoloan Port as reported by Antara, Thursday, April 21.

He explained that the first ship to dock at the Pantoloan port, KM Lambelu, carried 1,197 passengers on the Tarakan-Nunukan-Balikpapan route.

Operations for homecoming and return transportation after Eid al-Fitr will start from April 17-18 May, most of which will carry passengers from Central Sulawesi and the rest to Manado, North Sulawesi and surrounding areas.

KM Lambelu after dropping passengers, returned to transport passengers from Palu to the same route.

PT Pelni predicts that the peak of the homecoming flow will occur twice, Saturday (23/4) and Friday (29/4). Homecomers will also be transported using KM Labobar to Surabaya-Balikpapan-Bitung and KM Lambelu to Balikpapan-Parepare-Makassar-Baubau-Maumere-Larantuka who arrived from Nunukan.

Meanwhile, backflow, continued Siat, PT Pelni still operates KM Lambelu and KM Labobar four times.

"These two ships operate two times each for arrival and departure. This operation has just returned after being canceled for the last two years due to the pandemic," said Ismed.

Based on the travel regulations, it has exempted the antigen/Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) requirements for travelers who have received booster vaccinations.

Meanwhile for travelers who have just vaccinated doses one and two, the port authority still requires passengers to show a negative PCR result which is valid for 3×24 hours, or shows a negative result of rapid antigen 1×24 hours.

"For prospective passengers with special health conditions or comorbidities who cannot receive the vaccine, they are required to show a doctor's certificate from a government hospital and show the results of a 3 × 24 hour PCR swab," said Ismed.

Inggit Prayudi (28), a passenger, said that the exemption from the conditions for the homecoming trip was a good effort, considering the two years of the pandemic, most residents were unable to go home.

"Very good, so we just have to vaccinate and can go home for Eid with the family," he said.

He also admitted that currently sea transportation provides a fairly affordable ticket price.

"It's more cost-effective to take a ship with a ticket price of Rp. 400 thousand per person and you can go back and forth. That's why we prefer to go by ship," said Inggit.