Ship Ticket Discounts Still Available Near Eid, Here's the Remaining Quota
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The stimulus programme for discounts on passenger ship tickets ahead of Eid 2026 is still available, although the quota is increasingly limited. As of H-2 before Eid, PT PELNI (Persero) reported that the remaining discount quota is around 28% of the total provided.
Based on data as of 19 March 2026, the absorption of the discount programme budget has reached 72%, or equivalent to 338,474 tickets from a total budget of Rp42.3 billion. Meanwhile, discount ticket sales have reached about 76% of the total projected recipients of 445,534 tickets.
For the departure period of 11-19 March 2026, the realisation of discounted passengers was recorded at 168,819 passengers, with the daily peak occurring on 18 March 2026 at 27,790 passengers.
PELNI’s Corporate Secretary Ditto Pappilanda stated that the high public interest in this programme is inseparable from the momentum of the work from anywhere (WFA) policy that was in effect some time ago.
“As of 19 March, total discount ticket sales for the mudik departure period from 11 to 22 March 2026 have reached 200,346 tickets. Meanwhile, the overall mudik peak occurred on 18 March 2026 with a realisation of 31,131 passengers. This figure increased by around 12.2% compared to the same period last year, which was 27,741 passengers,” said Ditto in his statement on Thursday (19/3/2026).
He also reminded the public to take advantage of the remaining discount quota before it runs out.
“With a remaining discount quota of around 28%, we urge the public who have not yet booked tickets to purchase them immediately before they run out. If the transportation discount quota is exhausted, ticket prices will return to normal,” added Ditto.
On the operational side, a surge in passenger movement was seen at several major ports. For departures, Makassar was the busiest with 36,428 passengers, followed by Balikpapan with 30,794 passengers, Batam with 29,169 passengers, Ambon with 25,039 passengers, and Bau-Bau with 20,679 passengers.
Meanwhile, for arrivals, Surabaya recorded the highest volume with 50,556 passengers, followed by Makassar with 36,374 passengers, Belawan with 27,445 passengers, Bau-Bau with 26,877 passengers, and Ambon with 22,707 passengers.
The routes with the highest traffic include Batam-Belawan with 24,461 passengers, Belawan-Batam with 15,788 passengers, Balikpapan-Surabaya with 12,274 passengers, Kumai-Semarang with 10,890 passengers, and Makassar-Surabaya with 9,932 passengers.
This discount programme applies to purchases through various official company channels and partners, with the departure period up to at least 5 April 2026 or until the quota is exhausted. With the continuing increasing absorption trend, the remaining discount quota is estimated not to last long as the Eid mudik peak approaches.