Travelers can have selfie with the captain of ferry

Captain Ferry Setiawan with one of the passengers. (Antaranews Kalsel/Latif Thohir)

As of Saturday we transported around 100 motorbikes belonging to passengers who traveled back to various regions in East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan,

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The captain of the Panajam-Balikpapan ferry seeks to provide maximum service to passengers, including opportunities for them to take pictures with him.

Right away, the rare opportunity given by Captain Ferry Setiawan made the passengers to scramble for a selfie with the captain, who served passengers of homebound and return trip of Eid-al-Fitr.

According to Ferry Setiawan, since D-7 to D+7 Eid al-Fitr 1440 hijri, passengers crossing on the ferry in Panajam were quite booming compared to normal days.

"As of Saturday we transported around 100 motorbikes belonging to passengers who traveled back to various regions in East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan," he told.

This amount did not include the number of cars that crowded the ferry until early morning.

In fact, he added, there were 16 ships in particular at Panajam, including 12 ships in operation and four ships for backup.

On site monitoring, ferry crossing passengers on Panajam, on Saturday (8/6) on average were full of passengers, even many passengers did not get seats.

Some passengers returning to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, said they had a pleasant experience going home with the ferry.

One of the ship's passengers, Emilia Umi Astagini, said that it was the first time going home by ferry.

"It was very pleasant, I could take pictures with the captain of the boat and see the beauty of the bay in Kariangu Balikpapan," she said, revealing all this time she boarded the plane every time going home to Balikpapan.

Since airplane ticket prices have risen, many travelers from South Kalimantan to East Kalimantan have switched to land and sea transportation.

Previously, Banjarmasin-Balikpapan ticket prices around Rp350 thousand to Rp600 thousand, now soared to Rp750 thousand to Rp1 million more.

The soaring ticket prices also affected the rise in Banjarmasin bus passengers - to East Kalimantan and the round-trip.

Like Pulau Indah Jaya, which operates around 17 buses compared to normal days, which only eight buses.

"We have operated 17 buses, but there are still many passengers who cannot be transported," said one bus driver at the Pulau Indah Jaya Balikpapan bus terminal.