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Matson restores
ship to Hawaii fleet
The state's strengthening
By Russ Lynch
economy triggers the move
Star-BulletinMatson Navigation Co. said today it will add a containership to its mainland-Hawaii fleet May 14 because of growth in Hawaii's economy.
The move will bring Matson's fleet to seven ships and increase its service to a total of seven arrivals from the West Coast every 14 days.
In August 1998, Matson took two of its eight ships out of regularly scheduled service because of Hawaii's stagnant economy.
The S.S. Lihue, which has been used occasionally since being pulled from regularly scheduled service, is rejoining the fleet full-time, Matson said today. The company said it is bringing its fleet back up to seven vessels in response to market demand.
Some of the improvement in demand is also coming from business that Matson regained from a competitor, notably in the automobile business, said Branton "Bal" Dreyfus, vice president and area manager in Honolulu.
Reporting its first-quarter results yesterday, Matson parent Alexander & Baldwin Inc. said automobile shipments between the mainland and Hawaii in the quarter were up 72 percent from the year-earlier quarter and that container volume was up 5 percent.
"Most of those gains are regained market share," Dreyfus said today. In the West Coast-Hawaii business, Matson competes with CSX Lines, which was formerly called Sea-Land Service.
