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20,000 passengers pass through Merak port for Idul Fitri exodus
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Idul Fitri exodus in Merak Port, Banten, last year. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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ore than 22,000 passengers have crossed to Sumatra via Merak port in Cilegon, Banten a week before Idul Fitri, the Merak branch of state-owned seaport operator PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry reported.
As of Friday night, around 3,600 of the passengers aboard ASDP’s ferries had not taken private vehicles, while 18,501 passengers took their vehicles across the Sunda Strait for the annual Idul Fitri exodus, as quoted by tempo.co.
ASDP president director Ira Puspadewi said on Friday that approximately 4.2 million passengers and 1.01 million vehicles would use its ferry service from several ports including Merak this Idul Fitri holiday.
“Around 50 percent of them will be concentrated on the Merak-Bakauheni line and 30 percent on the Ketapang-Gilimanuk line,” she said to the press at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister in Jakarta.
The company will operate 217 ferries on seven main ferry lines connecting islands such as Java and Sumatra, Java and Bali, Bali and Lombok, Lombok and Sumbawa, among other routes. It will also operate 13 ports and 43 marinas to ease passengers who use its service.
She said the exodus would reach its peak on June 11 and 12 in the run up to Idul Fitri, while the return flow would peak on June 19 and 20.
This year, the government had decided on a 10-day joint Idul Fitri holiday, from June 11 to 20, in order to manage holiday traffic. (ris/evi)
