Balikpapan, Indonesia
Port · IDBPN · -1.20°, 116.80° · Mineral Products, Chemical & Allied Industries, Metals
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 8
- vessel calls / yr
- 2,349
About the port
The World Port Index lists Balikpapan as a small coastal natural harbour with excellent shelter.
Listed depths: 13 m in the channel, 13 m at the anchorage, 11 m at the cargo pier and 11 m at the oil terminal, with a mean rise of tide of 9 m.
Entry can be restricted by other conditions.
Pilotage is compulsory.
Repair facilities are rated limited, with a small drydock.
Balikpapan is a first port of entry.
PortWatch estimates 2,779 port calls at Balikpapan from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 232 a month, 6% fewer than in the twelve months before.
By vessel type, tankers 53%, dry bulk carriers 20% and general cargo ships 12% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 3.7 million t imported and 40 million t exported.
The busiest month was Oct 2025 (275 calls) and the quietest Apr 2026 (182).
What is reported near this port
8 warnings in this archive have their reported position within 60 nm of Balikpapan, the earliest issued in 2002; the most common types are cable ops (2), incidents (1) and wrecks (1).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Balikpapan is not necessarily about the port; collection is incomplete between 2024-05 and 2026-08-17.
Port calls per month · IMF PortWatch estimates
Oct 2024 – Sep 2026 (last bar: month in progress) · last complete month Aug 2026: 224 calls, 305 thousand t in, 2.1 million t out
Warnings within 60 nm, by year of issue
In force within 60 nm · 0
Nothing in force within 60 nm right now.
Port characteristics · World Port Index
- harbour
- small coastal natural
- shelter
- excellent
- water body
- Makassar Strait; South Pacific Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA XI
- depths
- channel 13 m · anchorage 13 m · cargo pier 11 m · oil terminal 11 m
- mean rise of tide
- 9 m
- entrance restricted by
- other; not ice, swell, tide
- pilotage
- compulsory
- tugs
- assistance; not salvage
- traffic and reporting
- ETA message required
- berthing
- wharves
- cranes
- floating, mobile
- services
- dirty ballast reception, longshore labour, medical
- supplies
- diesel, fuel oil, provisions, water; not deck stores, engine stores
- repairs
- limited
- drydock
- small
- first port of entry
- yes
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 163 (Enroute) - Borneo Jawa Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara
- chart
- 72100
World Port Index entry Balikpapan (No. 51840), matched by UN/LOCODE. NGA Publication 150 (U.S. government work). The index describes the port as last surveyed for the publication; it is not a substitute for Sailing Directions or port authority information.
Share of Indonesia's maritime trade through this port (PortWatch): imports 2.2%, exports 6.7%.
Chokepoint and port data: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org) — IMF and the University of Oxford, via the UN Global Platform. Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA / coastal broadcasts and port authority notices.