No Additional Fleet in Riau Islands during Christmas-New Year

The atmosphere of Sri Bintan Pura Port, Tanjungpinang City, Riau Islands (Photo via Antara/Nikolas Panama)

TANJUNGPINANG - The Riau Archipelago Province Transportation Service did not increase the number of fast boats on inter-island routes during the Christmas and New Year periods. However, the intensity of inter-island shipping will be increased so that there is no accumulation of passengers at the port.

This was conveyed by the Head of the Riau Islands Transportation Service, Junaidi in Tanjungpinang, Saturday, December 17. "No sailing time is imposed. If the passengers are full, the ship will sail immediately", he said, as quoted by Antara.

Later, fast boats serving passengers from Sri Bintan Pura Tanjungpinang Port to Tanjung Punggur Port, Batam City, or vice versa, will not apply sailing time.

Likewise, the Roro Ship on the Tanjunguban route to Batam usually sails from 07.30-18.00 WIB every day according to a predetermined schedule. Especially before Christmas and New Year 2023, the entire Roro Ship fleet sails whenever the ship's load is full, regardless of the sailing schedule.

According to the agreement, the services provided by PT ASDP Batam to passengers on the Roro Ship route are carried out until the evening. "Services are provided until there are no more passengers", he said.

For inter-provincial shipping, he added, PT Pelni deployed one ship to serve passengers from Batam to Belawan Port, North Sumatra, namely the Dorolonda Ship which sailed on December 19, 2022.

Meanwhile, at Kijang Port, there is no addition to the interprovincial route fleet. Previously, it was recorded that the Omsini Ship had sailed from Kijang Port to Tanjung Priok Port to East Nusa Tenggara on December 13, 2022.

"There are quite a several Omsini Ship shipping routes so that they sail faster so that people can celebrate Christmas and New Year in their home areas", he said.

Regarding the flight fleet, Junaidi emphasized that until now there had been no information on whether there had been an addition to the aircraft fleet. "We are still waiting for information from the Ministry of Transportation regarding this", he said.