Queue of Cars to Merak Port Stretches Outside, Dawn Congestion Clears

Queues of homecoming vehicles heading to Merak Port in Banten stretched up to Jalan Cikuasa Atas and Cikuasa Bawah, approximately 6 km, since early Thursday (19/3) around 01.00 WIB. Based on observations until 05.09 WIB, the queues had been cleared by traffic police. Looking inside Merak Port, vehicle queues were still visible at the toll gate area or vehicle check-in. Density remained at the Executive Pier, while the regular pier had many empty spots, indicating uneven vehicle distribution. “Queuing but still smooth, for personnel at each toll gate, from Cikupa, West Balaraja, East Balaraja, to the Merak Toll Gate,” said the Head of Traffic Police of Banten Regional Police, Commissioner Pol Arief Kurniawan, on Thursday (19/3). PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry had previously predicted that Merak Port would be crowded with more than 19,000 vehicles crossing to Sumatra, namely Bakauheni Port in Lampung. PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry’s Director, Heru Widodo, stated this based on ticket purchases via the Ferizy app until Wednesday afternoon, 18 March 2026, at 18.00 WIB. This number is expected to continue increasing until Thursday. This figure is higher compared to homecomers travelling on Tuesday night to Wednesday early morning, 17-18 March 2026. Over those two days, the total departures reached more than 17,000 vehicles. During the vehicle density at Merak Port, all ships will implement the Tiba Bongkar Berangkat (TBB) scheme. Thus, ships will only carry homecomers from Merak Port, unload them at Bakauheni, and return to Java Island empty. Furthermore, the vehicle loading and unloading process time into the ship will be shortened to 20 minutes. Peak Homecoming at Ciwandan Port Thousands of homecomers on motorbikes continuously crowded Ciwandan Port in Cilegon, Banten, during the predicted peak homecoming on Wednesday (18/3). From observations since 19.00 WIB until early Thursday morning, two-wheeled vehicles kept filling the waiting area before boarding the ships. There are 12 available lanes. On average, two to three waiting lanes were filled with hundreds of vehicles before entering the ships. Homecomers increasingly arrived since 21.00 WIB. Many homecomers were seen carrying luggage such as large bags and cardboard boxes tied to their vehicles. One homecomer, Gandhi (27), said that along his journey from Tangerang to Ciwandan Port, he encountered many homecomers on the road. “The road was already very crowded with homecomers, dense. Just starting the journey now after work holiday,” said Gandhi. He claimed to have been homecoming by motorbike to Tanggamus, Lampung, for the past two years. According to him, this year’s homecoming traffic management is quite good. “No long queues like a few years ago, for hours,” he said. Until 02.00 WIB, motorbike queues continued to arrive. Queues snaked at the ticket inspection gate. Before the ticket inspection area, officers also blocked vehicles intending to enter. Based on official data, the total passengers passing through Ciwandan Port on Wednesday reached 35,437 people. This data is the highest number of passengers in recent days. Meanwhile, the total two-wheeled vehicles passing through Ciwandan Port in the same period reached 22,613 units.