Matson to drop Matson Navigation Co. next month will cut one ship from its mainland-Hawaii service because of lower freight demand resulting from Hawaii's post-Sept. 11 economic setback.
1 freighter amid
slowing demand
Its mainland-Hawaii service
will be reduced to 7 shipsBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com
Reducing the fleet from eight ships to seven will bring Matson's service back to where it was a year ago. The shipping line had cut its fleet to six ships from eight in 1998 because of prolonged slowness in the Hawaii economy but put the seventh ship back into service in May 2000 and the eight in November.
"When Hawaii's economy rebounds, we are fully prepared to return a vessel to our Honolulu service," said C. Bradley Mulholland, Matson's San Francisco-based president and chief executive officer.
Starting early in December, the new schedule will offer seven arrivals every 14 days, or 182 round-trip voyages a year. Matson will sail from Los Angeles to Honolulu every Saturday and Wednesday; Oakland-Honolulu every Tuesday and Sunday; and Oakland-Los Angeles-Honolulu every other Friday.
Neighbor Island service will not be affected as Matson will continue to operate its three interisland barges, Mulholland said.
"Matson is confident that the new schedule will ... meet Hawaii's shipping requirements," he said.
Matson is the largest subsidiary of Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc.
In the first nine months of this year, Matson produced an operating profit of $60.4 million for A&B, down 18 percent from an operating profit of $73.9 million in the equivalent period of 2000.