Historically, the city of Palembang served as the primary seaport for southern Sumatra, the Musi River being wide enough to accommodate oceangoing vessels.

However, due to limited ship weights caused by sandbanks in the river, plans had been made to develop a replacement port at Tanjung Api-Api since the 1930s during the Dutch East Indies era.

[1] After the provincial government of South Sumatra also proposed the development of a port at Tanjung Api-Api in 2002, construction began in 2004 and was completed in 2007.

[3] It was designed primarily as a passenger port to Bangka Island to replace the existing ferry services in Palembang, with further plans to develop an industrial estate with railway connections.

[8] In the sixteen day period around the Eid al-Fitr of 2022 alone, over 60,000 passengers crossed to Tanjung Api-Api from Muntok.