Nutaru holiday passengers or Christmas and New Year holidays at Cilegon Port, Merak this year are predicted to experience an increase of around 15 percent compared to the Christmas 2022 and New Year 2023 periods. This was explained by Suharto, General Manager of PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry Merak Branch.
Meanwhile the peak number of passengers undergoing the 2023 Christmas Holidays at Merak Port will occur on 22-23 December 2023.
Quoted from the Antara news agency, PT Angkutan Sungai, Danau, dan Pengilang Indonesia Ferry or PT ASDP (Persero) is optimizing seven piers for serves passengers by operating 32 ships in large capacity.
“We are increasing capacity at Pier 2, which was initially only for ships under 5,000 GT but now it can exceed 10,000 GT,” explained Suharto.
The atmosphere of Merak Harbor, Banten, as an illustration [Suarabanten/Firasat] This morning, Saturday (23/12/2023), the Executive Pier of Merak Harbor, Cilegon City, Banten was crowded with four-wheeled vehicles crossing to Bakauheni Harbor, Lampung.
“We are happy to have arrived at Merak Harbor and we only had to queue for about an hour to get across,” explained Antonius (45), a car user at the Executive Pier of Merak Harbor, Cilegon.
According to him, Merak Port’s service is relatively good, because ticket sales are online so the pier is in smooth condition. Meanwhile, tickets can be obtained online or bought online, the price reaches IDR 600,000 because you use express boat services.
The express ship departure schedule from Merak Harbor to Bakauheni is also considered to be on time.
“We from Bekasi leave home at 21.00 WIB and can cross at 00.30 WIB,” continued Antonius, who was then ready to head to the Bangka Belitung Islands.
In line with the experience of Amir (45), a vegetable transport driver stated that as long as online ticket sales were implemented, the journey was smooth and there was no accumulation of vehicles. In his experience, on the second day of Christmas or Saturday (23/12/2023) the journey from Bandung to Merak Harbor went smoothly.
“We traveled from Bandung to Merak Harbor in just four hours and were able to cross straight away,” said Amir, who ended the long cross-island journey with a visit to Bandar Lampung.
For prospective passengers crossing the Christmas Holiday crossing, timing is the key. This means preparing your travel time well, plus anticipating overcoming traffic jams is needed so that you arrive at your destination without going too far from your original plan.