Company:Matson, Inc.

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Matson, Inc.
TypePublic
  • NYSE: MATX
  • DJTA component
  • S&P 600 component
IndustryShipping, navigation
FoundedApril 10, 1882; 144 years ago (1882-04-10) (as Matson Navigation Company)
HeadquartersHonolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Area served
United States
Key people
Matthew J. Cox (Chairman and CEO)
RevenueDecrease US$3.34 billion (2025)[1]
Decrease US$445 million (2025)[1]
Number of employees
4,356 (2024)
Websitematson.com
Footnotes / references
[2]

Matson, Inc., is an American ocean transportation and logistics company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.[3]

Founded in 1882,[4] Matson, Inc.'s subsidiary Matson Navigation Company provides ocean shipping services across the Pacific to Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Micronesia, the Pacific islands, China, and Japan.

History

William Matson (1849–1917) founded Matson Navigation Company. He was born in Lysekil in Västra Götaland County, Sweden, and orphaned during childhood. He arrived in San Francisco after a trip around Cape Horn in 1867. Working aboard the Dickel family yacht, he struck up a friendship with tycoon Claus Spreckels, who financed many of Matson's new ships. In 1882, he sailed his three-masted schooner Emma Claudina into the Hilo Bay of the Hawaiian Islands.[5][6]

The enterprise began in the carrying of merchandise, especially of plantation stores, to the islands and returning with cargoes of sugar, later expanding interests at each end of the line.[7]

In 1924, Matson completed the Matson Building, designed by Bliss and Faville, at 215 Market Street in San Francisco.[8] It featured an observation tower and cupola at the northern corner of the building that enabled company executives to see its ships coming through the Golden Gate. The company later sold the building to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, whose general office was next door at 245 Market. PG&E has incorporated the former Matson Building into its general office complex, keeping Matson-specific details such as elevator doors with detailed maps of Hawaii on them.

On December 1, 2011, Matson's then-parent company Alexander & Baldwin announced that its board of directors approved a plan to split A&B and Matson into two separate companies. As part of the plan, Matson would leave Oakland, California, to become a Honolulu-based company. The two companies are now traded separately.[9]

In 2015, Matson, Inc., acquired Horizon Lines, formerly its main competitor in the United States domestic market, for $469 million.[10]

Early 20th century advertising for Matson's Hawaiian hotels

Joining two Aloha-class freighter sister ships delivered to Matson in 2018 and 2019; in November 2022, the company again contracted Philly Shipyard to build three new 3,600 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) Jones Act compliant container ships at a cost of $1 billion.[11][12][6]

Passenger ships

Primarily a conveyor of freight; from 1908 on, Matson introduced into service a number of passenger liners to capitalize on the burgeoning tourist trade.[13] Matson took over the Oceanic Steamship Company in May 1926.[14]

From the early 20th century through the 1970s, Matson liners sailed from the west coast ports of San Francisco and Los Angeles to Honolulu and points beyond, including a handful of South Pacific ports of call as well as Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. Two of their earlier cargo liners, Maui and Wilhelmina, were the first passenger ships to place their engines aft.

Among the "white ships of Matson" were Malolo (rechristened Matsonia), Lurline, Mariposa, and Monterey.[15] With the advent and expansion of routine air travel between the mainland and the islands, Matson's passenger service was greatly diminished, and the liners were eventually retired from trans-Pacific service and virtually gone by the end of the 1970s.[16]

Hotels

In 1925, Matson acquired a controlling interest in the historic Moana Hotel on Waikiki on the island of Oahu. They constructed the nearby Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1927. In 1952, they built the SurfRider Hotel (today a wing of the Moana), followed by the Princess Kaiulani Hotel in 1955.[17] Matson sold the four properties to Sheraton Hotels in 1959.

Matson Lines (airline)(1)
Founded1943 as the Air Transport Division of Matson Navigation
Commenced operationsJuly 5, 1946 (1946-07-05)[18]
Ceased operationsMarch 1948 (1948-03)
Operating basesOakland, California
Fleet size6 Douglas DC-4s[19]
Parent companyMatson Navigation
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California[20]
Notes
(1) Aircraft liveries said "Matson Lines."[21] CAB applications[22][23][24][25] and airline lists[20] said "Matson Navigation." It appears there was no entity such as "Matson Airlines."
Matson house flag
File:SS Lurline at Honolulu in the 1930s.jpg
SS Lurline in the 1930s
SS Monterey during World War II

Airline

From 1935, Matson backed Pan American Airways to pioneer air travel across the Pacific, taking an equity stake in the airline. The agreement called for Matson, Pan Am and Inter-Island Steam Navigation (parent of Hawaiian Airlines) to create a new carrier to fly from Hawaii to the mainland, but in 1942 this was denied by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated most US commercial air transport.[26] In 1943 Matson created an Oakland, California-based Air Transport Division providing aircraft modifications for the US Navy, including R5Ds, the naval version of the Douglas DC-4.[27] Matson also sought CAB certification of its own to fly scheduled service from Hawaii to the mainland.[28] By 1946, the Oakland base was converting military C-54s to civilian DC-4 configuration.[21][29][30]

The CAB was not disposed to allow surface carriers into the airline industry.[31] In 1946 Matson started unscheduled flights to Hawaii with DC-4s anyway, with ocean-liner standards. Author and pilot Ernest K. Gann, who left American Airlines to fly for Matson, called it "possibly the finest airline ever operated in the world," with food overseen by a former chef to the Belgian king.[32] Interiors featured "Philippine mahogany" and chrome fixtures.[33] But the CAB rejected Matson applications four times between 1946 and 1950, closing it out of scheduled service to Hawaii.[22][23][24][25] Matson dropped aviation March 1948.[34] Matson was financially constrained: in 1947 Matson suspended a dividend it had paid since 1906 and made a loss on its Hawaii freight business.[35] Transocean Air Lines took over Matson's Oakland maintenance base.[36]

One significant legacy of Matson's airline was Gann's 1953 best-selling novel The High and the Mighty (and subsequent John Wayne film of the same name), inspired by his flying for Matson.[37]

Current fleet

Matson's current cargo fleet of U.S.-flagged vessels include:[38]

  • Anchorage / Kodiak / Tacoma (sister ships)
  • Daniel K. Inouye / Kaimana Hila (sister ships - Aloha Class)[39]
  • Imua II / Liloa II (sister ships)
  • Kamokuiki
  • Lihue
  • Lurline / Matsonia (sister ships - Kanaloa Class)[40]
  • Manoa / Mahimahi (C9 sister ships)
  • Manulani / Maunawili / Manukai (sister ships)[41]
  • Maunalei[42]
  • Mokihana (C9 with garage conversion)
  • Papa Mau
  • R.J. Pfeiffer
  • Haleakala
  • Mauna Loa
  • Waialeale

See also

  • Young Brothers Hawaii
  • Pasha Hawaii
  • List of largest container shipping companies

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Matson, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2026-02-27. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/3453/000110465926020944/matx-20251231x10k.htm. 
  2. ↑ "2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 28, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/3453/000155837025001875/matx-20241231x10k.htm. 
  3. ↑ "Form 10-K: Business". Matson, Inc. February 27, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/3453/000110465926020944/matx-20251231x10k.htm#BUSINESS_683066. 
  4. ↑ "Company profile Matson, Inc.". Businessweek. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=2524109. 
  5. ↑ Middlemiss, Norman (2018-11-09). "Matson Lines: The Hawaiian shipping company". https://www.shippingtandy.com/features/matson-lines/. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Matson Orders Three More Panamax LNG Boxships From Philly Shipyard". The Maritime Executive. November 2, 2022. https://maritime-executive.com/article/matson-orders-three-more-panamax-lng-boxships-from-philly-shipyard. 
  7. ↑ "William Matson & Lurline Matson Roth". Cypress Lawn Heritage Museum. 4 September 2020. https://cypresslawnheritagefoundation.org/william-lurline/. 
  8. ↑ "Matson Lines Building, South of Market, San Francisco, CA". Pacific Coast Architecture Database. https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/991/. 
  9. ↑ Star-Advertiser, Honolulu. "Alexander & Baldwin to split into 2 publicly traded companies - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser". http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/134862378.html?id=134862378. 
  10. ↑ Schwing, Emily (5 June 2015). "With Matson acquisition final, Horizon Lines no longer exists". KTOO (Juneau, United States). http://www.ktoo.org/2015/06/05/matson-acquisition-final-horizon-lines-no-longer-exists/. 
  11. ↑ Segal, Dave (November 3, 2022). "Matson Inc. to buy 3 vessels totaling $1 billion; profit falls". Star Advertiser. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/11/03/hawaii-news/matson-to-buy-3-vessels-totaling-1-billion-profit-falls/. 
  12. ↑ "Matson Orders Three LNG-fueled Containerships from Philly Shipyard". Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.. November 2, 2022. https://www.marinelink.com/news/matson-orders-three-lngfueled-500665. 
  13. ↑ "YACHT LURLINE FIRST IN PORT". Los Angeles Herald, Volume 35, Number 291. July 19, 1908. http://www.usmm.org/matson.html. 
  14. ↑ "Matson Buys Oceanic Line". The New York Times. Associated Press: p. 11. May 16, 1926. https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/16/archives/matson-buys-oceanic-line-acquires-routes-to-south-seas-and.html. 
  15. ↑ O'Brien, Duncan, 1967- (October 2014). The grand manner of Matson. Victoria, B.C., Canada. ISBN 978-0-9686734-3-0. OCLC 881138788. 
  16. ↑ "History of the Matson Fleet". Matson Navigation Company. http://www.matson.com/bos/history_sec0101.shtml. 
  17. ↑ "Historic Hotel Waikiki" (in ja). https://www.royal-hawaiian.com/history-overview/. 
  18. ↑ "Industry Observer". Aviation News 6 (4): 5. 22 July 1946. OCLC 1518943. https://archive.org/details/Aviation_Week_1946-07-22/page/n1/. 
  19. ↑ Worden 1981, p. 104.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Complete List of Non-Scheduled Operators". American Aviation 10 (11): 29. 1 November 1946. OCLC 263600228. https://archive.org/details/sim_american-aviation_1946-11-01_10_11/page/28. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Stindt 1982, p. 131.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Hawaiian Airlines, Ltd., et al., Hawaiian Case". Civil Aeronautics Board Reports (Washington, DC: U.S. General Printing Office) 7: 83–131. June 1946 – March 1947. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32437011657737?urlappend=%3Bseq=99%3Bownerid=107196676-103. 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Pacific Northwest-Hawaii Case". Civil Aeronautics Board Reports (Washington, DC: U.S. General Printing Office) 8: 149–151. April–December 1947. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32437011657687?urlappend=%3Bseq=167%3Bownerid=107469291-171. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Pacific Northwest-Hawaii Service Case". Civil Aeronautics Board Reports (Washington, DC: U.S. General Printing Office) 9: 414–439. January–December 1948. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b2988898?urlappend=%3Bseq=430%3Bownerid=9007199273371735-434. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Reopened Hawaiian Case". Civil Aeronautics Board Reports (Washington, DC: U.S. General Printing Office) 11: 1008–1028. December 1949 – August 1950. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b2988900?urlappend=%3Bseq=1026%3Bownerid=9007199273372583-1082. 
  26. ↑ "Pan American Airways, Inc., et al.—Pan American-Matson-Inter-Island Contract". Civil Aeronautics Board Reports (Washington, DC: U.S. General Printing Office) 3: 540–549. August 1941 – December 1942. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b2938504?urlappend=%3Bseq=554%3Bownerid=9007199273668370-558. 
  27. ↑ Worden 1981, p. 101.
  28. ↑ "Matson Wants Four Pacific Air Routes". American Aviation 7 (9): 58. 1 October 1943. OCLC 263600228. https://archive.org/details/sim_american-aviation_1943-10-01_7_9/page/58. 
  29. ↑ Worden 1981, p. 102.
  30. ↑ "Matson Co. Air Division To Convert Commercial Planes At Oakland Airport Plant". Oakland Post Enquirer 24 (311): 7. 28 December 1945. OCLC 14116842. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1000446913/. 
  31. ↑ "American President Lines, Ltd., et al., Petition". Civil Aeronautics Board Reports (Washington, DC: U.S. General Printing Office) 7: 799–829. June 1946 – March 1947. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32437011657737?urlappend=%3Bseq=815%3Bownerid=107196676-833. 
  32. ↑ Gann, Ernest K. (1978). A Hostage to Fortune. New York: Knopf. p. 313. ISBN 0394499840. https://archive.org/details/hostagetofortune0000gann/page/312. 
  33. ↑ "Rest Easy, Wifey Dears, All's De Luxe With Your Seal Men". San Francisco Chronicle CLXIV (29): 1H. 13 February 1947. ISSN 1932-8672. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1238870641/. 
  34. ↑ "Matson Navigation Year Shows $301,200 Loss". San Francisco Examiner CLXXXVIII (83): 25. 23 March 1948. ISSN 2574-593X. https://www.newspapers.com/image/458600059/. 
  35. ↑ "The Problem of Establishing Steamer Freight Rates". Pacific Marine Review: 48. July 1948. OCLC 2449383. https://archive.org/details/pacificmarinerev4548paci/page/n563. 
  36. ↑ "Transocean Buys Matson Repair Base". Oakland Post Enquirer 27 (81): 14. 3 April 1948. OCLC 14116842. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1000445007/. 
  37. ↑ Gann 1978, p. 366.
  38. ↑ "Matson's Fleet" (in en-US). https://www.matson.com/track-matsons-fleet.html/. 
  39. ↑ "Aloha Class 3,600 TEU CV-LNG Ready" (PDF). https://www.phillyshipyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/3600_TEU_data_sheet.pdf. 
  40. ↑ "Matson Kanaloa Class ConRo" (PDF). https://nassco.com/wp-content/uploads/Matson-Kanaloa-Class-ConRo_Fact-Sheet-2016.pdf. 
  41. ↑ "2600 Class Data Sheet". https://www.phillyshipyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cv2600_data_sheet.pdf. 
  42. ↑ "2500 Class Data Sheet". https://www.phillyshipyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cv2500_data_sheet.pdf. 

Further reading

Template:United States-flag shipping companies



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