Pelni forecasts Lebaran mudik peak on 18 March 2026, with 751,550 tickets prepared
Pelni, the Indonesian state-owned maritime company, announced that the Lebaran 2026 transportation period would run from 6 March to 6 April 2026. The peak mudik exodus is expected to occur on 18 March 2026, or three days before Eid al-Fitr 2025, with the return peak on 2 April 2026.
During this period, Pelni will operate 55 ships: 25 passenger ships and 30 ferries, including 11 ships with a capacity of 3,000 passengers, 10 ships with 2,000 passengers, 9 ships with 1,000 passengers, 5 ships of smaller capacity, three of which have a capacity of 500 and two other vessels.
“From 55 passenger ships, seat availability per sailing is 56,069 seats and we are offering 751,550 tickets for this Lebaran,” said Tri Andayani, the Chief Executive Officer of Pelni, during a press conference on the Lebaran 2026 transport program in Jakarta on Wednesday, 4 March.
Operational readiness: Pelni has confirmed that all vessels in the peak season will operate and have undergone docking. Ramp checks were also conducted by the Ministry of Transport to verify the seaworthiness of all passenger ships before operation.
Pelni is also monitoring fuel stock. Regular consumption reaches 18,000 kilolitres per month, while during peak season it rises to 22,000 kilolitres. The higher fuel requirement is caused by deviations or reroutes, additional vessel support, and vessel movements from east to west or from the central region to the west, including support from Belawan to Batam. All additional fuel requirements have been coordinated with the Ministry of Transport and BPH Migas.
The next strategic step is to adjust routes and ship schedules through pre-routing to accommodate passenger surges on certain routes. There are route deviations on 17 ships, two additional support vessels, and two additional sailings.
“We are also adjusting schedules to accommodate vessel arrivals in certain areas,” Tri Andayani explained.
She explained that without route adjustments from standard patterns, total passengers that can be carried during the Lebaran 2026 exodus would be about 588,000. However, through route additions, vessel support, and increased sailings, capacity rises to 641,000 passengers, an increase of around 90,000.
Pelni has also sought a dispensation for passenger capacity as a precaution against crowding at certain ports and routes. The request still takes into account all safety aspects and undergoes strict verification. The company is also increasing and regulating crew shifts.
For ticket sales, Pelni provides multiple channels, including the PM Mobile app, PM Mobile website, PM Mobile contact centre, mobile banking, and official sales agents. The public is advised to ensure agents are official partners by verifying via PM Mobile or calling PM 162 if in doubt.
Pelni has also set up a command post and monitoring at the head office, the Ministry of Transport, and all ports. The post is operated in cooperation with relevant agencies to ensure smooth Lebaran transport operations.
Under the free-mudik programme, in addition to government stimulus of Rp42 billion to Pelni, the company also runs the 2026 BUMN Free Mudik Programme. To date, there are 2,756 free mudik tickets: 1,000 initiated by Pelni, 1,050 from PLN, 250 from Pasir Robatang, 256 from Pegadaian, and 200 from Telkomsel.
For the Lebaran transport stimulus, Pelni’s budget is Rp42 billion, equivalent to 445,534 tickets, applicable to all routes with a 30% discount from the base tariff. “From the projection of 445,534 tickets, to date 135,187 have been sold,” Tri Andayani said.
Regarding stimulus absorption, he added that budget absorption typically runs at around 100%. In Lebaran last year, absorption reached 99.98%. However, ticket numbers can be lower than projected because most trips are long-haul. By contrast, during Christmas and New Year (Nataru), although the budget was also absorbed close to 100%, ticket numbers were higher than the projection because they predominantly involved short-distance journeys.