Mudik Traffic Surges at Gilimanuk, ASDP Prepares Three Support Vessels

The surge of returning travellers is beginning to congestion Gilimanuk Port in Bali during the 2026 Lebaran holiday period. To anticipate the growing queue of vehicles crossing the Bali Strait, PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry has prepared three support vessels to accelerate crossings to Ketapang Port in Banyuwangi.

Didi Juliansyah, Business Manager of PT ASDP Gilimanuk, stated that the Bali Strait crossing is currently operating under a “Very Dense” traffic scheme. This condition has been triggered by waves of returning travellers beginning to leave Bali as the holiday period commenced.

“We are currently working on deploying support vessels. From what we can observe, there has been a significant increase since Friday afternoon (13 March) as people have only just begun their holiday,” Didi said when contacted on Saturday (14 March 2026).

Based on data from PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) Ketapang-Gilimanuk branch at 05:16 WITA, approximately 1,910 tickets for passengers remain queued for check-in. This figure is predicted to increase further as the volume of returning travellers grows.

To accelerate the clearing of vehicle queues, port authorities are targeting a total of 33 vessels operating across the Bali Strait. Of this number, three vessels are support fleet units being prepared as reserves.

One of the prepared vessels is the Motor Passenger Ship (KMP) Portlink VII. This vessel previously experienced a fire incident at Jetty MB IV at Ketapang Port on the evening of Wednesday (11 March 2026).

“Three vessels are being prepared to accelerate operations. One of them is KMP Portlink VII, which is currently undergoing sea trials; we have expedited the target for it to be operational today,” Didi explained.

Currently, ASDP is still awaiting operational permits for the support vessels so they can immediately assist with returning traveller mobility.

“We are still waiting for permits; hopefully it can be expedited,” he added.

Beyond the Lebaran holiday factor, the proximity of the returning travel period to the Nyepi festival is also a concern. ASDP has urged residents to plan their travel times to avoid congestion on the final days.

“We hope the public will travel earlier to avoid congestion, especially as Nyepi approaches,” Didi concluded.