ALOR SETAR: Ferry operations at the Kuala Kedah Passenger Terminal, which were temporarily suspended from Thursday due to bad weather have resumed.
Konsortium Ferrylines Ventures Sdn Bhd general manager Captain Dr Baharin Baharom said this involved four ferry trips from Kuala Kedah to Langkawi and five ferry trips from Langkawi to Kuala Kedah.
"After three days, the first ferry trip from Kuala Kedah was at 1.30pm on Sunday, and the first trip from Langkawi to Kuala Kedah was at 10.30am," he said when met at the Kuala Kedah Passenger Terminal here on Sunday (Sept 22).
"The weather today is good and we will monitor if the terminal can continue to operate as we have been informed that there will be a transition phase of the monsoon starting this Tuesday which will cause heavy rain and strong winds."
He said if there are storms and strong winds, the ferry journey and the roll-on/roll-off ferry will move to the Kuala Perlis Passenger Terminal.
"We will increase the number of ferries as much as possible in Kuala Perlis. The decrease in the number of tourists entering Langkawi may be because school holidays are over or they are worried about rough sea conditions as reported," he said.
Baharin said following the cancellation of ferry services, more than 6,000 passengers requested a refund while over 5,000 changed their ticket dates and route to Kuala Perlis.
"Currently, more than RM130,000 has been refunded," he said, adding that the temporary suspension of ferry services affected over 12,000 people.
Ferry passenger Siti Zaharah Mansor, 55, from Sik said she was with 10 family members in Langkawi on Tuesday, and should have returned to Kuala Kedah on Saturday (Sept 21).
"We had to change the date of our tickets. When we checked at the counter, there was a ferry this morning, so we took the tickets for the ferry at 10.30am.
"It was a smooth journey...the waves were calm," she said.
She also said that this was also her grandson's first trip to Langkawi after recovering from illness as the last time he went on holiday to the island was when he was three years old.
Meanwhile, Nurkhairina Arrysya Shaiful Zubaid, 19, from Sungai Petani said she went to Langkawi on Monday to see her father who works there and was supposed to return on Thursday.
"When informed that the ferry was delayed due to bad weather, I requested a refund from the ferry management and changed the travel date to today. The weather conditions today were good and the waves were calm," she added. – Bernama
