REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALU -- PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (Pelni) Branch Palu, Central Sulawesi, stated that the number of settlers using sea transport services through Pantoloan Port reached 3,562 people at the peak of Lebaran 2024 homecoming, which took place on Monday (1/4/2024).
“The peak of the mudik flow of leafhoppers at Pantoloan Port took place yesterday, on Monday with 1,766 passengers arriving at Pantoloan Port and boarding by 1,796 people,” said the head of PT Pelni Branch Palu ST Nafila in Palu on Tuesday.
He said the transit period of Lebaran 2024 has started from March 26, which will run for 32 days until April 26 with Pelni Branch Palu preparing two fleets to transport returning passengers, namely KM Labobar and KM Lambelu. He pointed out the surge in the number of settlers on Monday at Pantoloan Port, a Palu route to Balikpapan-Surabaya using KM Labobar.
This is because the route to Surabaya is the route with the highest popularity of visitors and is also the last time KM Labobar entered Pantoloan Port to transport passengers to Surabaya.
According to him, in anticipation of a surge in the number of passengers in the 2024 Lebaran transit period, KM Labobar got a dispensation of passenger capacity to 3,570 people, and KM Lambelu to 3,126 people. In addition, he said, PT Pelni Cabang Palu also got a route adjustment of three trips for KM Labobar to Surabaya.
“Since the start of the lebaran transportation period, there have been three incoming boats, namely KM Labobar with the Balikpapan-Surabaya destination route on March 28, KM Lambelu on the Nunukan-Tarakan-Balikpapan route on March 30, and KM Labobar again with the Balikpapan-Surabaya route on April 1,” he said.
Meanwhile, it predicts the 2024 Lebaran counter-current peak at Pantoloan Port will take place on April 14 and April 18. To that end, he appealed to the public to buy tickets from far in advance, a maximum of one week before departure due to high demand.
It also appealed to people to buy tickets at official venues in anticipation of fraud or fake tickets during the return and return flow of Lebaran 2024. He said prospective passengers can buy tickets through the official pelni.co.id website, the Pelni Mobile app, or directly at the sales counter at the SOE branch office, the official travel agency that cooperates with it as well as the modern retail outlets Alfamidi and Indomaret.
He also asked potential passengers to avoid buying tickets through touts, advertising on social media to payment by transfer to a personal account.