ASDP Indonesia Ferry will start selling online tickets for four major seaports in Indonesia in March: Merak port in Banten, Bakauheni port in Lampung, Ketapang port in Banyuwangi and Gilimanuk port in Bali, said ASDP Indonesia CEO Ira Puspadewi. 

“By March this year, hopefully no more buying tickets on the spot in the four seaports. Everything must be reserved online, thus the manifest can also be predicted before the trip,” Ira told the press in Jakarta on Thursday. 

With seaports getting cramped during holidays, particularly the Idul Fitri exodus, the online ticketing system is expected to eliminate long lines of passengers waiting to board ferries, she said. The online system is also expected to make seaport operations more efficient.

The online ticketing system will be introduced in stages in all the 35 ports that ASDP Ferry operates across the archipelago. The goal is to have the online system in all the ports by next year, said Ira.

ASDP Indonesia introduced online reservations in June of last year for passengers in Merak, Bakauheni, Ketapang and Gilimanuk. However, only a small number of passengers have utilized the system as most still prefer booking tickets offline, said Ira.

In the future, Ira said, ASDP Indonesia might provide both offline and online channels for ticket reservations, especially for smaller ports or those in the eastern part of the country.

“As of today, there are offline and online reservations. For instance, in eastern part of Indonesia such as in Kupang, Labuan Bajo, many people are still buying tickets from the local postal office,” said Ira. State postal company PT Pos Indonesia is ASDP Indonesia’s partner in selling ferry tickets.

ASDP Indonesia provides short-distance ferry services, operating 150 vessels along 243 routes across Indonesia.