Oil patch bits: Matson begins construction on container ships

Petroleum News

As reported by Matson News Sept. 30, Matson Inc. announced the start of construction on the first of three new "Aloha Class" containerships designed for its Hawaii and China-Long Beach express services. After a small ceremony at Philly Shipyard in Pennsylvania, the cutting of steel plates began, initiating the work to build the ships for delivery to Matson in 2026 and 2027.

The three new Jones Act-compliant vessels, representing an investment of approximately $1 billion, will be built to match the size and speed of Matson's two existing Aloha Class ships, Daniel K. Inouye, and Kamina Hila, which were also built by Philly Shipyard and entered service in 2018 and 2019, respectively, as the largest containerships ever constructed in the U.S.

Like their sisterships, the new vessels will be equipped with dual fuel engines designed to operate on either conventional marine fuels or liquefied natural gas, as well as other "green ship technology" features, such as a fuel-efficient hull design, environmentally safe double-hull fuel tanks, and freshwater ballast systems. While the earlier ships required some modification to operate with LNG, the new ships will be delivered LNG-ready.

The first vessel is expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2026 with subsequent deliveries in 2027.

"Our existing Aloha Class ships are among the fastest, most efficient vessels in the Matson fleet," said Matt Cox, chairman and chief executive officer. "And like their sisterships, these three new vessels will help Matson achieve its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal while also providing additional capacity and speed benefitting our Hawaii service as well as the CLX."

Matson has set corporate goals to achieve a 40% reduction in Scope 1 greenhouse gas fleet emissions by 2030 and net-zero Scope 1 GHG emissions by 2050. For more information visit www.matson.com.