Surge in Travellers at Padangbai Port, Loading and Unloading Accelerated

Travellers crossing from Padangbai Port in Karangasem, Bali to Lembar Port, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) experienced significant growth. Vehicle queues to board ships exceeded seven hours on Sunday (15 March 2026). To manage the vehicle backlog, port authorities accelerated passenger loading and unloading procedures.

“We have expedited the passenger loading and unloading process from the previous 2.5 hours to just 1.5 hours,” said I Ketut Sugiartono, Head of Service Unit (Satpel) at the Land Transportation Management Agency (BPTD) of Padangbai Port I, on Sunday.

According to him, the increase in passenger numbers began on Friday (13 March 2026), but a considerable surge occurred on Saturday (14 March 2026) and has continued since. For pedestrian passengers, the figure increased from 4,490 to 7,595 per day.

“Motorcycles also experienced a significant increase from the previous 1,469 units to 2,440 units per day,” said Sugiartono.

With the rise in passenger numbers, on Saturday (14 March 2026) the number of ferry trips was increased from the previous 13 to 15 daily trips. According to Sugiartono, the number of trips could be increased further should passenger numbers surge again.

He predicted that typically, the number of homebound travellers would increase during evening hours. “For precise data, we can only confirm tomorrow morning since the final ship departure for data collection is at 08:00 Wita. Only after that can we determine whether passenger numbers have increased further,” said Sugiartono.