Severe Truck Congestion at Indonesia’s Busiest Port Sparks Urgent Reform Calls
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JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — A surge in container truck volume at Indonesia’s busiest port has triggered one of the worst traffic gridlocks in Jakarta in recent years, prompting urgent responses from port operators, regulators, and industry groups. State-run port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia has vowed to clear the severe congestion around Tanjung Priok Port by Sunday, as it rolls out cost waivers and logistical measures to ease the backlog.
Since Wednesday night, thousands of container trucks have been stalled for up to 12 hours on Jalan Yos Sudarso, the main artery leading to Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta. The traffic jam, which stemmed from a pile-up of loading and unloading activities inside the port, has rippled across the capital, straining the city’s logistics network at the start of a long weekend.
Pelabuhan Indonesia, or Pelindo, said it has mobilized additional support and coordinated with law enforcement and regulators to manage the congestion. Executive Director for Regional 2 Pelindo Drajat Sulistyo said the company has issued cost waivers, rerouted vessel terminals, and assisted stranded drivers to expedite recovery.
“We are still clearing the remaining backlog. We expect normal port operations to resume by Sunday,” Drajat told reporters on Friday, adding that operations would shift focus to next week’s logistics flows starting Monday.
Major delays triggered by late-arriving vessels
According to Pelindo, the congestion was triggered by the simultaneous docking of three large cargo vessels at Tanjung Priok’s NPCT1 terminal. Two of the ships were delayed by a week, while the third arrived a day late. The volume of goods offloaded reached over 4,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), far exceeding the terminal’s average of 2,000–2,500 TEUs per day.
To mitigate the overload, Pelindo redistributed ship operations to other terminals. The Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) was designated to handle up to 5,000 trucks per day, Terminal Koja 1,300 trucks, and NPCT1 around 2,500 trucks.
The bottleneck worsened as thousands of transporters rushed simultaneously to retrieve containers ahead of the weekend. Drajat revealed that 4,200 trucks were recorded entering the port area in one go, driven partly by a three-day public holiday that spurred demand from businesses seeking to secure shipments.
Financial relief and emergency assistance
In an unprecedented move, Pelindo offered toll fee subsidies and exempted expired gate access charges for affected drivers. It also suspended surcharges on import container withdrawal letters (SP2/TILA), and facilitated redirection of trucks to buffer zones and toll roads. Food supplies were also distributed to stranded truckers.
“We’ve opened gates to allow drivers to tap in and directed stuck vehicles to the expressway,” Drajat explained. “We’re covering the toll fees to ease the flow.”
Pelindo’s efforts were bolstered by the Harbormaster and Port Authority Office of Tanjung Priok, or KSOP, which implemented temporary traffic redirection schemes. Vehicles bound for NPCT1 were diverted into the port’s inner areas, while others were held at Inggom buffer zone until road conditions improved.
“We continue to coordinate closely with the port police and Pelindo to untangle this gridlock,” said KSOP Head M Takwim Masuku.
Calls for structural reform, not blame
Amid mounting criticism, the Indonesian National Shipowners’ Association, INSA, urged all stakeholders to refrain from finger-pointing. INSA Chair Carmelita Hartoto emphasized that the traffic jam, while disruptive, was also a sign of rising export activity—an encouraging sign of economic resilience despite global uncertainty and retaliatory tariffs imposed by the United States.
“This is a positive indicator amid global headwinds. The surge in export activity at Priok is something to be grateful for, despite the logistical challenges,” she said.
INSA acknowledged Pelindo’s efforts to repurpose parking areas and reroute trucks to internal gates, and noted the operator’s long-term strategy includes building new roads to ease pressure on arterial and toll roads around the port. However, Carmelita stressed that infrastructure development requires support from the Ministry of Public Works and Jakarta’s city government.
“We must move beyond blame and work together to prevent future disruptions,” she added.
Transport experts urge long-term solutions
Indonesia ranks 63rd in the World Bank’s 2023 Logistics Performance Index with a score of 3.0, trailing behind regional peers such as Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines—an indication that chronic congestion at key gateways like Tanjung Priok continues to undermine efforts to improve the country’s logistics competitiveness.
The Indonesian Transportation Society, MTI, urged policymakers to overhaul the logistics framework around Tanjung Priok. Djoko Setijowarno, MTI's Vice Chair for Regional Development, criticized the port’s over-reliance on road access, noting that port-side rail infrastructure has been neglected for decades.
“Access by rail is now seen as expensive and impractical due to non-subsidized fuel, value-added tax, and track access charges,” Djoko said, arguing that short-haul truck transport dominates due to lower costs for distances under 500 km.
He also pointed out that while port capacity has expanded on the sea side, land-side facilities such as truck parking and driver rest areas remain underdeveloped.
“A port’s capacity should be judged by its weakest link. Without basic facilities like buffer zones and sanitation, traffic will continue to clog,” he warned.
Djoko called for a reestablishment of 1-kilometer-wide buffer zones free from residential or commercial development, echoing colonial-era designs where ports were supported by rail lines and spatial buffers.
“Many of those buffer zones have since been converted into housing. We need to reevaluate that shift and prevent it from undermining logistics infrastructure,” he concluded.