Ship operators to reduce Indonesia ferry services following fuel price hike

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): Ship operators under the River, Lake and Water Transportation Operators Association (Gapasdap) have announced that they will scale back ferry services on several major routes to cut down losses.

This comes as the Transportation Ministry has yet to implement a new pricing scheme following a significant fuel price hike earlier this month.

Gapasdap tariff commission head Rakhmatika Ardianto said that the operators would reduce trips on the Merak-Bakauheni route, which connects Java and Sumatra Islands, the Ketapang-Gilimanuk route connecting Bali and Java Islands, the Bajoe-Kolaka route, which connects South Sulawesi to Southeast Sulawesi, the Lembar-Padangbai route connecting Lombok and Bali Islands and the Tanjung Kalian-Tanjung Api-api route connecting Sumatra and Bangka Belitung Islands.

"For example, on the Ketapang-Gilimanuk route, we will scale back services from eight trips to five trips a day per ship. Each ferry will have a longer docking time, up to 1.5 hours from the usual 45 minutes. So, it will take passengers a total of 2.5 hours to cross from Java to Bali Islands and vice versa.

Usually it takes only 1.5 hours," Rakhmatika said in Surabaya on Saturday. There are 48 ships run by 23 operators on the Ketapang-Gilimanuk route and the reduced ferry service is expected to create a hurdle for supply chains in the popular crossing route and even across the country.

The prices of subsidised and a number of unsubsidized fuels were raised by the government by around 30 per cent on Sept 3 due to the heavy burden on the state budget, as oil prices were increasing higher than projected.