Matson’s new ship
arrives in HonoluluThe Manukai will travel between
Hawaii and Long Beach, Calif.
Matson Navigation Co.'s new $110 million container ship arrived for the first time at its homeport of Honolulu yesterday.
The Manukai has the capacity to carry 2,600 containers and is the first vessel to enter the Matson fleet since the R.J. Pfeiffer in 1992. The Manukai will be used for the route between Honolulu and Long Beach, Calif., the company said.
The ship is 712 feet long, measures 106 feet at its widest point, and is about four stories high.
Some of Manukai's features include additional capacity for larger container sizes up to 53-foot-long boxes, larger generator capacity for refrigerated containers and a more fuel-efficient diesel engine.
The Manukai is the first ship to be built at the Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard. Another Matson ship, the Maunawili, is being built at the shipyard and is scheduled to be delivered next year.
The ship was christened at the shipyard in July by Margaret Inouye, wife of U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye. She also christened Matson's S.S. Hawaiian Enterprise in 1969, which was later renamed Manukai.
At the time, the ship was the largest container ship under the U.S. flag. While in service, the original Manukai completed over 700 voyages and carried over a million containers of cargo.
