Assessing Ferry Ro-Ro as Tol Laut's Alternative Cargo Carrier for Inter-Island Trade

Economic development in Indonesia is currently unequal and more concentrated in western regions such as Java and Sumatra. Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) has high economic potency from fishery, tourism, mining, and livestock products. High inflation and price disparity become ecomomy problem which dominated by volatile food inflation and administered prices. To support equitable development by enhancing economic interaction between regions through inter-island trade, the government initiated the Tol Laut program in the underdeveloped, remote, outermost, and border areas (3TP) to reduce price disparities through subsidizing sea transportation services. This research aims to analyse the utilization of ferry ro-ro as alternative for Tol Laut's cargo carrier by analyzing logistic processes, logistic cost, supply-demand, and price disparity. The analysis result shows that Jangkar-Kupang ferry route which connected East Java and NTT can be utilize as new Tol Laut alternative route which has advantages such as high frequency, ability to bridge inter-island door to door logistic distribution, and cumulatively can increase market size of Tol Laut's cargo as foundation to control price disparity and promote return cargo as sustainable inter island trade. Government agencies need to build collaboration to control the distribution of Tol laut's cargo to end user.