Heavy Mudik Traffic: Logistics Trucks Queue for 5 Kilometres to Hutan Cekik

The route to Gilimanuk Port in Jembrana District, Bali, has begun showing a significant increase in activity ahead of the Lebaran mudik (mass exodus) period. Traffic monitoring on Friday (13 March 2026) afternoon revealed logistics vehicle queues stretching to the Bali Barat National Park area (known as Hutan Cekik).

The end of the queue extended approximately 5 kilometres from the port. The vehicles dominating the queue were logistics transportation, ranging from small, medium, and large trucks to articulated lorries. This condition had persisted since Thursday (12 March 2026) evening.

Firman (44), a logistics truck driver from Situbondo, revealed he had to exercise patience facing the long congestion. He had been trapped in the queue for more than four hours.

“I’ve been stuck in traffic since this morning. I’ve only just reached the front of Al-Mubarok Mosque. I want to go home for mudik, and I was also trying to complete my final delivery to avoid the vehicle restrictions during the mudik period,” Firman said when interviewed.

Jembrana Police Chief AKBP Kadek Citra Dewi Suparwati explained that the vehicle congestion was triggered by a surge in the volume of logistics vehicles attempting to exit Bali. As a preventive measure, police began operating through all residential alleyways to relieve congestion.

“The operation runs from today until 25 March. On the main route, the queue is dominated by cargo vehicles, most of which are already empty, so they are just returning to Java,” Citra said.

To prevent total congestion, Jembrana Police have prepared several parking pocket areas for logistics trucks. This step was taken to ensure private vehicles belonging to mudik travellers do not become trapped in the long queue.

“We have already implemented containment measures starting from Pekutatan, Kaliakah, to Cekik Timbang Bridge. If the logistics truck queue becomes too long, it will hinder private vehicles (mudik travellers), so we contain them first,” she explained.

In contrast to the slow-moving logistics trucks, the flow of small vehicles and motorcycles remained relatively smooth. To date, no significant congestion has been observed on the dedicated routes for two-wheeled or four-wheeled mudik vehicles.

Citra also mentioned that full channelling has been implemented in the Cargo Terminal area for small vehicles. “For small vehicles, channelling has been set up in the cargo terminal area to ease the queue. We are already using three lanes leading to the port,” she concluded.