Crossing line of Ketapang-Gilimanuk was close for half hour on yesterday Tuesday (January 5th). It is due to the hard rain and mist; all ship asked to delay their sail and moored to the dock. Luckily, when bad weather comes, there is few of passengers and not triggered long queue of vehicles.

Port closing began at 3.30 p.m. and opened again at 4.20 p.m. before it close, Syahbandar Port of Ketapang aired alert status by waving blue flag that signaling danger. Since the condition get worse, all ships were ordered to stop and get dock. “The weather suddenly get worse, hard rain and thick fog disturbing our cruise visibility,” said one of watchman and office observatory officer of Syahbandar Ketapang, Sugeng Riyadi.

Beside the thick fog, there is also strong gusts of wind quite danger ocean flow in addition with the hard rain and thunder flash. All ships that were loading and discharging asked to stop and secure each of their position. While the ships that had already sailing was asked to get close with the nearest dock.

Sugeng also added that the wave of the sea is not too dangerous for sailing. It still normal around 0.3-1.5 meter but his party still get worried with cruise visibility due to the thick fog. “If we force them to sail, the ship could lost its control and dragged by the current,” he assessed.

Post-closure shipping, every ship operator ordered them to tightened their sailing safety standard. Every vehicles transported on the ship need to get tied with the hull. This, according to Sugeng was to anticipate if there will be a continuation of that bad weather. “We keep imposing open-close system if the weather becoming bad again,” he added.

Yesterday bad weather was brief. After the rain stopped, the weather back to normal. All ship operator finally gave their authorization for sailing. Sugeng added that his party will keep coordinate with Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika (BMKG) – Meteorology and Geophysics Department – to warn them in this raining season. Besides covered with fog there is high probability for the strong wind to take place. Yesterday the wind acceleration reached 0.3-18 knot. That number indicates alert condition in sailing world.

News by Bali Post