Jakarta, March (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Navy has sent a ship to the Merak ferry terminal on Banten`s western coast to ease a congestion of cargo trucks waiting to cross the Sunda Strait to Sumatra island, a spokesman said.

The spokesman of the Navy`s sea borne command, Lt Col Agus Cahyono, said to ANTARA here on Friday the KRI Tanjung Kambani had arrived in Ciwandan, Banten, ready to serve as a ferry boat to Bakaheuni, Lampung, Sumatra.

PT ASDP (river and lake transportation and ferry service company) meanwhile was planning to add three more ships to reduce the long queue of trucks on the Merak toll road waiting to make the crossing to Sumatra.

The company`s corporate secretary, Christine Hutabarat, said she hoped the queue would no longer be there next week.

She said the three ships were now still on the way and under administrative processing. "One of them is already in Jakarta and the two others are still on their way from Mataram," she said.

The three ships were the KM Ferindo 5 ( a chartered ferry), KMP Rodita and KMP Pulau Telo.

"The ships differ in capacity with Ferindo able to transport 50 vehicles, Rodita 22 trucks, and KMP Pulau Telo 20 to 25 trucks," she said.

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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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