Return Flow: Pelni Predicts Tanjung Perak as Busiest Arrival Port

Jakarta (ANTARA) - PT Pelni predicts that Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java, will become the busiest arrival port during the Idul Fitri 1447 Hijriah return flow.

“For the return flow, we predict Surabaya will be the busiest arrival port and Makassar the busiest departure port,” said Pelni Company Secretary Ditto Pappilanda in Jakarta on Saturday.

He stated that Surabaya would be the busiest port as of 28 March 2026, with the number of ship passengers reaching 46,222, followed by Makassar Port with 40,231 passengers.

Then, Belawan Port with 28,147 passengers, Bau-Bau Port with 25,881 passengers, and Ambon Port with 24,056 passengers.

Meanwhile, the busiest departure ports up to 28 March are Makassar Port with 39,359 people, followed by Batam Port (31,249 people), Balikpapan Port (30,892 people), and Ambon Port (30,892 people).

The company also predicts the busiest routes will occur on the western route, namely Batam to Belawan or vice versa, followed by the Balikpapan–Surabaya route.

He detailed the Batam to Belawan route with 26,115 passengers, followed by the Belawan to Batam route with 17,962 passengers.

Then, Balikpapan to Surabaya with 12,265 passengers, followed by the Makassar-Surabaya route (10,290 people) and Bau-Bau to Makassar with a total of 9,638 passengers.

He emphasised that Pelni remains focused on maritime safety in transporting the mudik and return flows during this year’s Lebaran.

“We always coordinate with port authorities to monitor maximum capacity on ships,” he said.

Previously, PT Pelni invited the public to take advantage of the transport discount in the form of a 30 percent reduction from the normal ticket price during the Idul Fitri 1447 Hijriah mudik flow, with around 7.5 percent of the total quota provided by the government still available.

“We recorded that the uptake of the Economic Stimulus Transport Discount programme for Pelni passenger ships has reached 92.5 percent of the total budget of Rp42.3 billion,” he said.

He said the programme, opened since 11 February 2026, is still ongoing until the quota is exhausted or at the latest for departures up to 5 April 2026.

According to him, as of 28 March 2026, the realisation of discounted passengers has reached 431,705 people or around 96.9 percent of the projected 445,534 discount recipients for the departure period from 11 March to 5 April 2026.

For the return flow departure period from 23 to 28 March 2026, the number of discounted passengers has reached 114,345 people, and the highest return flow discounted passengers occurred on 28 March 2026 with 22,524 people.

“The overall return flow peak is predicted to occur on 2 April 2026 with a projection of 27,009 passengers,” he said.

As a state-owned enterprise in the shipping services sector, PT Pelni currently operates 25 passenger ships serving 483 routes and calling at 75 ports.

In addition to passenger transport, Pelni also serves 30 pioneer ship routes that provide accessibility for population mobility in 3T regions and pioneer ships that call at 229 ports with a total of 516 routes and 2,515 voyages.

Pelni also operates 18 rede ships, and for business logistics services, Pelni currently operates eight sea toll routes as well as one special route for livestock ships.