{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1737069,
        "msgid": "pulau-baai-port-and-the-economic-pulse-of-bengkulu-1778669813",
        "date": "2026-05-13 16:58:56",
        "title": "Pulau Baai Port and the Economic Pulse of Bengkulu",
        "author": "",
        "source": "ANTARA_ID",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Infrastructure",
        "summary": "The Pulau Baai Port in Bengkulu faced severe disruption in March 2025 when sedimentation from Indian Ocean waves completely blocked its navigation channel, halting the supply of essential goods, isolating remote islands, and stalling fuel distribution, which underscored the port's critical role in the province's economy. Export activities suffered significantly, with April 2025 exports plummeting 74.5% to $3.9 million, prompting President Prabowo Subianto to issue instructions for urgent dredging operations using large-capacity vessels. A year later, the channel has been restored to a depth of minus 6.5 metres, targeting minus 12 metres, enabling normal operations for various vessels and enhancing connectivity beyond pre-incident levels.",
        "content": "<p>The position of Pulau Baai Port is considered strategic because it\nlies on the western Sumatra coastal toll sea route and directly faces\nthe Indian Ocean. Bengkulu (ANTARA) - It is still fresh in memory that\nat the end of March 2025, the Pulau Baai Port channel was completely\nblocked by piles of sand sedimentation carried by Indian Ocean waves\ninto the shipping lane. The shallowing of the channel is actually not a\nnew issue at that port. The problem has occurred for more than a decade.\nHowever, the situation reached its peak at the end of March 2025 when\nbad weather worsened the conditions. Piles of sand that accumulated in\npart of the channel collapsed and eventually blocked the entire port\nservice lane. The blockage of the port channel serves as evidence that\nthe port is the \u201clifeblood\u201d of Bengkulu\u2019s economy. Cargo ships carrying\nessential goods could not enter the dock, causing supplies of several\nimportant commodities in Bengkulu to dwindle. Access to and from the\noutermost islands was also isolated because pioneer ships could not\ndock. Energy distribution in the province nicknamed Bumi Raflesia also\nstalled after Pertamina\u2019s tanker ships could not enter the dock to\nunload fuel oil (BBM) cargo. Pertamina then had to struggle to\ndistribute BBM via land routes, passing through the winding roads of the\nBukit Barisan as an alternative energy supply to Bengkulu. However,\ndistribution via land routes is certainly not cheap because it requires\nsignificant costs to maintain energy adequacy for the community. On the\nother hand, Bengkulu\u2019s export activities were also disrupted. The\nclosure of the port channel prevented export commodity carrier ships\nfrom docking or sailing to and from Pulau Baai Port. The Central\nStatistics Agency recorded that Bengkulu\u2019s export value in April 2025\nonly reached about $3.9 million, a 74.5 percent drop compared to March\n2025. That situation forced Pelindo, as the port operator, to work hard\nto normalise the channel so that sea connectivity to and from Bengkulu\ncould be restored, even better than before. Dredging efforts could not\nbe carried out in the usual way. The volume of sand sedimentation that\nhad to be removed was very large, plus the high rate of sand\ncontinuously entering the channel every day. The total sand to be\ndredged reached 1.112 million cubic metres along the 2.3 kilometre\nnavigation channel. Seeing that situation, President Prabowo Subianto\nissued instructions in April 2025 to ensure Bengkulu\u2019s connectivity\nthrough the port route was restored. Dredging was then carried out using\nlarge-capacity dredger ships CSD Costa Fortuna 3 and AHT Costa Fortuna\n5. Now, after a year has passed, efforts to reopen Bengkulu\u2019s sea\nconnectivity are beginning to bear fruit. Pelindo has ensured that the\nchannel depth has reached minus 6.5 metres and is targeted to go to\nminus 12 metres. Tanker ships, cargo ships, container ships, passenger\nships, to other large-bodied ships can now freely dock at the pier. Port\nactivities are back to normal, even considered far better than before\nPulau Baai Port was isolated due to being covered in sand\nsedimentation.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pulau-baai-port-and-the-economic-pulse-of-bengkulu-1778669813",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}