Since 00:00 hours early in the morning until 16.00 hours, the ferry company departed ships in 22 trips with 1,157 passengers, 313 four wheel vehicles, 47 buses and 746 trucksMerak, Banten (ANTARA News) - A total of 17 ferries at Merak port in Cilegon city, Banten, are not in operation because they are undergoing maintenance processes or have been being sent to dock-yards for repairs, a ferry company official said.
"There are 17 ferries usually serving the Merak-Bakauheni ports which are not in operation. Today, there are only 22 ferries are serving passengers at the two ports which connected Java and Sumatra," Hery Widarto, a supervisor of the Inland Waterway Service firm (TP ASDP) for Merak, said here on Sunday.
He said that the ships which were not operating were Nusa Bahagia, HM Baruna I, Dharma Ferry IX, Bahuga Pratam, Raja Enggano, Nusa Dharma, BSP II, Nusa Mulia, Mufidah, Windu Karsa Dwitia (WKD), Royal Nusantara, Laut Teduh 2 (caught fire), BSP I, Mitra Nusantara, Jatra II, Bahuga Jaya and Jatra III.
In the meantime, there were three ships sent to Merak to assist the service but were neither in operations now, namely KMP Ganda Dewata, Ferrindo 5 and Tanjung Kambani-917 (a military ship).
Hery Widarto said that the number of vehicles which were transported from Banten`s Merak to Bakauheni port in Lampung on Sunday reached 1,343.
"Since 00:00 hours early in the morning until 16.00 hours, the ferry company departed ships in 22 trips with 1,157 passengers, 313 four wheel vehicles, 47 buses and 746 trucks," he said.
Since 11.15 am the long queue that had previously snaked down in front of the Marak toll road has been eased.
"There is no longer vehicle queue, after the queue that reached 96,500 trucks has been eased," he said.
In the meantime, Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi has asked the Inland Waterway Service (PT ASDP) to evaluate ship-docking arrangements at Merak port in an effort to solve traffic jams at the ferry port.
"It should evaluate its docking arrangement and fix accurate schedules. The other efforts that could be made include separating special piers for faster ships," the minister said here on Sunday.
He said that his office continued to do its best to overcome the traffic jams that had hampered the flow of trucks at the ferry port of late.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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