Matson Navigation Company

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Matson Navigation Company Inc.
legal form Inc.
ISIN US57686G1058
founding 1882
Seat Honolulu , Hawaii United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
management Matthew J. Cox (Chairman and CEO )
Number of employees 2000
sales 2.05 billion US dollars
Branch Shipping company
Website www.matson.com
As of December 31, 2017

The administration building in San Francisco

The Matson Navigation Company , Matson for short, is an American shipping company founded in San Francisco in 1882 . In addition to passenger and cargo shipping, mainly between the US West Coast and Hawaii, the company operated an airline, hotels and worked in tourism during its existence. Another business area was the search for oil.

history

Beginnings

The Wilhelmina , one of the first steamers

The company goes back to the Swedish-born captain William Matson, who in 1882 sailed for the first time with his three-masted schooner Emma Claudina and 300 tons of cargo from San Francisco to Hilo in Hawaii. Larger sailing ships soon followed, such as the Brigantine Lurline in 1887 or the Bark Rhoderick Dhu, which was equipped with cargo cooling systems . The company's first steamship, the Enterprise , was oil-fired. By the time William Matson died in 1917, the Matson fleet had grown to 14 modern units.

Between the world wars

After the First World War, in which some of the Matson ships were used for troop and military transports, the shipping company put the two largest freighters in the Pacific voyage , the Manulani and Manukai, into service. In 1925, the port operating company Matson Terminals was founded, which handled the handling of its own fleet. Two years later, the 22 knot passenger ship Malolo was put into operation and construction of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel began. The success of the Malolo led from 1930 to 1932 to the construction of the passenger ships Mariposa , Monterey and Lurline , which helped to further develop Hawaii for tourism in those years. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Matson fleet was used again for military service. Matson also operated a large number of the emergency structures built during the war. 21 of the 35 Matson ships used were lost in the course of the conflict or were sold to the government.

post war period

The Mariposa and Monterey were sold after the war in order to receive money for the reconstruction. It was not until 1948 that the restored Lurline could be put back into operation. In 1951 Matson opened the SurfRider Hotel, and in 1955 the Hotel Princess Kaiulani opened. That same year, Matson began a $ 60 million shipbuilding program. 1955 was Mariner class - Quick freighter Pine Tree Mariner acquired and until 1956 for Mariposa rebuilt. 1957 followed by the sister ship Monterey , which arose from the Free State Mariner built in 1952 . The sisters were relatively simply furnished, but still comfortable and known for good service and good cuisine. The pre-war Monterey was renamed Matsonia and used in liner service between the US west coast and Hawaii.

Containerization

On August 31, 1958, Matson took the first containers for Hawaii on board with the freighter Hawaiian Merchant in San Francisco. Two years later began the gradual conversion of the fleet to container ships. The first ship that was still converted from an existing unit, the Hawaiian Citizen, was not only the first full container ship in the area, but also the first to be equipped for the transport of refrigerated containers. Further container ship conversions followed in the years up to 1967. In 1969, Matson became a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin. In the year after the takeover, the company ended passenger shipping, which became increasingly unprofitable with the growing proportion of airline traffic. At the same time, the Hawaiian Enterprise and the Hawaiian Progress were able to put the first newbuildings designed as container ships into service, and the first RoRo units were added shortly afterwards.

1980s until today

The Matson ship Lurline

Since the 1980s, three bespoke soul lights, two for containers, one for rolling cargo, have complemented Matson's island-to-island service. The subsidiary Matson Intermodal System, founded in 1987, began to coordinate intermodal transport by train and truck on the US mainland. After years of growth, the line of business was renamed Matson Integrated Logistics in 2003. The container ship RJ Pfeiffer , which was put into service in 1992 , initiated the transition of the Matson fleet to diesel-powered ships, which has been continued since 2002 with the construction of four new container ships. From 1996 to 2006 the shipping company operated a service to Honolulu and Guam with American President Lines . Instead, Matson has been expanding its services to China since 2006.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2017 Annual Report