The port of Benoa is situated very close to popular places of Bali such as Kuta, Sanur, Denpasar and Nusa Dua.
The international airport of Denpasar is only 12 km away and most of the international hotels of Bali are within a range of 30km around Benoa. Benoa is therefore an ideal place for carrying out turn around operations.
General manager Iwan Sabatini said that the increasing quality of services and facilities at Benoa Port have attracted the world’s cruise ship operators to come to Bali. The past two days alone, for example, have seen the arrival of the Rotterdam, the Celebrity Solstice and the Cruise Crystal Symphony.
The Crystal Symphony brought around 900 passengers to Bali from Darwin, Australia, will embark more passengers before heading off to Semarang, Central Java; Jakarta; Penang, Malaysia; Phuket, Thailand; and Singapore.
Iwan confirmed that the Ministry of Transportation to handle the widening and deepening of the groove and the rest is done by PT Pelindo III Benoa Harbour. Currently long cruise ship pier at Benoa is more than 300 meters.
He added “ If a cruise ship is less than that size so it could lean on the port that is specifically prepared for it. But if the length of close to 300 meters or more then it just anchored in the middle of sea on Serangan island and Nusa Dua.”
This year 2013, Iwan targeting at least 38 cruise ships to be lean or anchored at Benoa Harbour. From January to February, there are about 10 ships whose came with total passengers lowest average two thousand people. Meanwhile, on March there will be two cruise ships that arrive simultaneously.
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Source: surftotal, February 26, 2013