F

erry operators serving the Ujung-Kamal route expressed relief over the weekend as the central government decided on replacement routes to relocate them following the opening of the Suramadu bridge since June 10.

The chairman of the Association of Water Transportation Operators (Gapasdap) East Java chapter, Bambang Harjo, on Friday said the Transportation Ministry had sent the association a letter on July 7, informing them of the replacement routes for the ferries.

"Eight routes have been prepared for the six ferries abandoned from the Ujung-Kamal route because of the new bridge," Bambang said.

He added that the same letter was also sent to the East Java Transportation Agency.

The eight replacement routes, he said, served Batam-Bintan, Tanjung api-api (Palembang)-Muntok (Bangka), Batulicin-Tanjung Serdang, Gorontalo-Pagimana, BauBau-Wara, Huni mua-Waipirit, Ketapang-Gilimanuk and Lembar-Padangbai.

"We expect to have the ferries relocated by the end of July or by the beginning of August," Bambang said.

Following the opening of Indonesia's longest bridge, connecting Surabaya (Java) and Madura Island, the government reduced the number of ferries serving the same route (to and from Ujung and Kamal ports) from 17 to 11.

Of the six no longer serving the route, three were operated by PT Jembatan Madura Ferry, two by PT Dharma Lautan Utama and other by PT Pewete Bahtera Kencana.

Due to the freeze on the operations of the six ferries, the operators were forced to send their employees home. The freeze, Bambang said, had also caused financial losses to the operators of up to Rp 400 million a day.

Gapasdap, he added, had also noted the new bridge had caused a drastic decrease in numbers of passengers using ferries to cross the Madura Strait.

The number of human passengers, he said, had decreased by between 30 and 40 percent, four-wheeled vehicles by 85 percent and motorbikes by 40 percent.

Bambang expressed hopes that the relocation would soon put an end to the financial losses the operators of the six ferries had been facing. "This way, dozens of employees who were sent home can also work again to support their families."