PELNI Urges Eid Travelers to Book Tickets via PELNI Mobile

To anticipate the surge of passengers, PELNI reminds the public to purchase tickets through the PELNI Mobile App.

Press Release
PT PELNI (Persero)
No.: 03.20/10/PR/III/2024

Peak Mudik Prediction on April 5th, PELNI Urges Travelers to Book Tickets via PELNI Mobile App

Jakarta, March 18, 2024 - PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia or PT PELNI (Persero) predicts the peak of the annual exodus with PELNI ships to occur on April 5, 2024, which is 5 days before the Eid al-Fitr celebration. To anticipate the surge in passengers, PELNI reminds the public to purchase tickets through the PELNI Mobile App.

Head of PELNI's Corporate Secretariat, Evan Eryanto, mentioned that an estimated 26,330 people are expected to travel during the peak of the exodus with PELNI ships. However, this number might increase, considering the realization of the peak exodus in 2023 reached 29,209 people.

"To ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard PELNI ships amidst this exodus, we will increase security personnel on the ground and continue to coordinate with port stakeholders to ensure smooth embarkation and disembarkation processes," Evan said.

For PELNI, the Eid al-Fitr transportation period for 2024/1445 H will take place from March 26, 2024, or H-15, to April 26, 2024, or H+15. Compared to last year's total number of travelers of 632,155, Evan estimates that this year's number of travelers will slightly decrease to 588,903, or 93.16 percent of last year's figure.

"This decrease is due to the reduction in the number of pioneer ships operated by the Government in 2024 from 42 routes in 2023 to 30 routes this year. However, this will not affect our focus on providing services and prioritizing maritime safety," Evan emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Belawan - Batam and vice versa, Batam - Belawan routes are still expected to be the busiest routes with predicted passenger numbers of 18,612 and 17,996 respectively.

Here are the projections for the Top 5 busiest routes:

1. Belawan - Batam (18,612 passengers)
2. Batam - Belawan (17,996)
3. Kumai - Semarang (13,662)
4. Balikpapan - Surabaya (12,321)
5. Makassar - Surabaya (11,117)

Projections for the Top 5 busiest departure ports:

1. Makassar (45,182 passengers)
2. Balikpapan (32,716)
3. Ambon (32,484)
4. Baubau (28,528)
5. Surabaya (27,782)

Projections for the Top 5 busiest arrival ports:

1. Baubau (58,811 passengers)
2. Makassar (44,498)
3. Balikpapan (33,006)
4. Belawan (27,754)
5. Ambon (23,437)

Evan added that to ensure the success of this year's Eid al-Fitr transportation, PELNI ensures that all 26 passenger ships will operate at full capacity in addition to 30 pioneer ships with a total transport capacity of 62,689 seats. Passenger ships serve 72 ports throughout Indonesia, while pioneer ships serve 273 ports in remote, underdeveloped, outermost, and border areas.

In terms of safety, there are a total of 72,816 life jackets available on all PELNI passenger ships, 1,794 life-raft units with a total capacity of 44,850 people, and 226 lifeboats with a total capacity of 25,805 people.

"And the safety equipment newly installed on PELNI ships is the marine evacuation system to expedite the evacuation process from the ship to the lifeboats, which hopefully will never be used," explained Evan.