REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BAKAUHENI -- Thousands of vehicles which wanted to cross the Sunda Strait from Sumatra to Java began to pile up at Bakauheni Ferry Port at the wee hours on Saturday.
Based on the observation of an Antara correspondent at the port, thousands of private cars, buses and trucks piled up at the piers' parking areas.
The vehicles accumulated at the parking areas of pier II, III, IV and V. This was also caused by bad weather that was taking place at the Sunda Strait.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said that the wind speed now in the Sunda Strait reached 0.5 to 15 knots with waves recorded at up to 1.5 meters high.
The weather condition was cloudy. Because of the bad weather, ferries faced difficulties in mooring at the piers. A number of ferries were able to moor but need time to do so.
Cars which wanted to embark on the ship also found difficulties because ferries' ramp doors were shaky and could cause risks for vehicles' wheels as they can get stuck.
Two wheel vehicles were not seen piling up at early hours on Sunday. However, it is predicted that the peak of the reverse flow of Idul Fitri travelers (both those using motorcycles and pedestrian ferry passengers) will take place Saturday morning.
For several days before the D-Day on Monday of the post-fasting Idul Fitri or Lebaran, thousands of travelers crossed the strait from Java to Sumatra to celebrate the festivities or have reunions with family members or friends.
The flow of holiday travelers has been slowly increasing along the Soekarno-Hatta Trans-Sumatra highway to Bandar Lampung this week.
Since 8 a.m., on Wednesday, the highway had been crowded with motorcycles and cars of returning vacationers, mostly from Pringsewu and Pesawaran following the 2014 Idul Fitri holidays.
The arriving passengers among others came from numerous cities and towns in Sumatra where they had spent their days off visiting their families or relatives to celebrate the Idul Fitri festivity.
They are returning to Tangerang, Jakarta, Bogor, Bekasi and other regions in Java.
Mario Utomo, the public relations officer of the Inland waterway services company, PT ASDP, remarked on Wednesday that the company had deployed 28 roll-on roll-off (roro) ferries to serve the holiday travelers at the Merak (in Banten province of Java) and Bakauheni (in Lampung of Sumatra) ports.
"We have stationed 28 ferries on standby to handle the inflow of this year's holiday passengers, so that they will not have to stand in long queues before being ferried from Merak to Bakauheni and otherwise," Utomo added.
He added that the number of returning travelers is likely to peak on Sunday as civil servants and employees of private companies will commence their work on Monday.
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