Hazardous haze: A soldier hands out face masks on Monday to newly arrived passengers at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport in Palembang, South Sumatra. The local government has provided safety masks to the public after the level of airborne ash particles reached 843 microns, way above the maximum limit of 50 microns.

Besides endangering the health of residents, haze in Sumatra has also disrupted business activities, shipping and flights, especially in Palembang, South Sumatra.

The South Sumatra office head of the Indonesian National Shipowners Association (INSA), Kurmin Halim, said members had suffered losses of up to Rp 20 billion (about US$1.7 million) since the Palembang port master imposed an alternating shipping lane policy to avoid accidents.

“Since the policy was imposed 14 days ago, our members have incurred up to Rp 20 billion in losses in ferry and freight services,” Kurmin said on Monday.

At the Palembang port, odd dates are assigned for outgoing vessels and even dates for incoming vessels. The policy has caused inflated operational costs of ship companies as they must queue before entering the Palembang port, not to mention the reduction in vessel frequency.

About 50 ferries and freighters traverse the Musi River in Palembang daily.

Apart from that, planes serving Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport in Palembang, Hang Nadim Airport in Batam, Riau Islands, and Sultan Thaha Airport in Jambi have either been delayed or canceled due to the haze.

Transportation Ministry chief spokesman JA Barata said in Jakarta on Monday that no planes had landed at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport as of 9 a.m. on Monday as visibility had been recorded at only 700 meters.

The general manager of the South Sumatra office of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, Henny Nurcahyani, said her company’s operational costs had ballooned due to the haze.

The airline had to augment the budget for fuel because planes had to circle above or return to the airport of origin as they could not land in Palembang.

“We must also provide facilities to passengers because of the delay. Our losses could reach billions of rupiah,” said Henny.

Garuda Indonesia, which serves 11 flights from Palembang to Jakarta daily, has been forced to postpone flights by two hours every day.

Meanwhile, the manager of Sriwijaya Air’s Palembang office, Darmando Purba, said the country’s third-largest carrier had also been forced to delay its flights by three hours every day.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) recorded 170 hot spots in South Sumatra on Monday, which was the highest number in Sumatra. Dense haze from forest fires in the province has spread to Jambi, Lampung, Riau, West Sumatra, Aceh and North Sumatra.

“The worst-hit is Jambi, as it is close to the source of the haze. The haze can be carried by the wind to Riau Islands, Singapore and Malaysia. Fortunately, the wind was not strong today,” said BMKG extreme weather affairs head M. Fadli as quoted by Antara news portal in Jakarta.

Antara also reported that the worsening haze in Central Kalimantan had forced the Education, Youth and Sports Office in Palangkaraya to extend a suspension of school activities in the province.

In line with the instruction of Palangkaraya Vice Mayor Mofit Saptono Subagio, kindergartens and preschools have been closed for a week, and elementary and junior high schools for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra health agencies have distributed tens of thousands of face masks to residents to prevent acute respiratory tract infection.

The South Sumatra provincial administration held a coordination meeting on Monday on efforts to extinguish forest and peatland fires in the province.

“Now, God will decide when the fires will be put out. We have made strenuous efforts to extinguish the fires,” said South Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Yulizar Dinoto.

According to him, 1,215 firefighters have been deployed, comprising members of the BPBD, the military and the police, to douse fires in South Sumatra.

The BPBD has also deployed four helicopters to fight the fires and an Hercules aircraft to make artificial rain.