Jakarta. Severe traffic congestion brought North Jakarta to a standstill on Thursday, trapping thousands of vehicles, including ambulances and container trucks, on roads leading to Tanjung Priok Port. The North Jakarta Traffic Nightmare, sparked by a post-holiday surge in container deliveries, stretched from morning into the night.

Among those affected was Irawan, an ambulance driver attempting to rush a patient to Puri Hospital. "We were stuck for over two hours. The patient was in an emergency state, and thankfully, we had oxygen. But we couldn’t move at all," he said.

Truck drivers, too, voiced frustration as access to the port ground to a crawl. Arifin, a trailer driver heading from Plumpang to the port, endured more than five hours of gridlock for what should have been a 5-kilometer trip.

“I’ve been stuck since 9:30 a.m. and only got to the port entrance at 4 p.m. It usually takes under 30 minutes. This is the worst I’ve seen,” Arifin said. He said that while traffic near the port often spikes during weekend unloading, Thursday’s jam was “on another level.”

The paralyzing congestion extended across major roads, including Jalan Yos Sudarso, Jalan RE Martadinata, Jalan Enggano, Cakung Cilincing Raya, and the Sedyatmo and Wiyoto Wiyono toll roads. The volume of trucks, many heading to the NPCT 1 terminal, exceeded 4,000, nearly double the daily average.

Pelindo Regional 2 Tanjung Priok, which oversees the port, blamed the logjam on a post-Eid spike in cargo traffic as truck operators rushed to resume logistics activities following the temporary holiday ban on goods transport.

“There are no system issues at the terminals or port gates. The surge in vehicles is purely due to logistics resuming en masse,” said Adi Sugiri, Pelindo's executive general manager. He stressed that port operations continued without delay despite the traffic chaos.

To ease the congestion, Pelindo and authorities deployed a series of mitigation measures, including contra-flow schemes, traffic diversions, and the use of buffer zones and parking pockets. Drivers were also given food and water to prevent fatigue.

The traffic chaos reached a boiling point by midday. Tanjung Priok Port Police traffic chief Martha Catur confirmed the congestion had persisted since Wednesday night, worsened by three large vessels docking for unloading.

“There are around 4,000 trucks inside the port, well beyond its ideal capacity,” she said. Despite rerouting efforts, vehicle volume overwhelmed available road space.

The impact spilled far beyond the port. Thousands of passengers, workers, and logistics personnel were seen walking along major roads, some for several kilometers, as vehicles remained stuck for hours.