Two new combination container and roll-on/roll-off ("Con-Ro") vessels are scheduled for delivery to Matson, Inc. (NYSE: MATX), a leading U.S. carrier in the Pacific, in the fourth quarter of 2019 and second quarter of 2020, respectively, the shipping company said. The vessels are under construction at General Dynamics NASSCO's shipyard in San Diego.
Matson is calling these vessels the "Kanaloa Class" in honor of the ocean deity revered in the native Hawaiian culture and will name each of the new vessels after predecessor ships from its 135-year history. The first vessel will be named Lurline, the sixth Matson vessel to carry that name, while the second vessel will be its fifth named Matsonia.
The Kanaloa Class vessels are being built on a 3,500 TEU vessel platform, which is 870 feet long, 114 feet wide (beam), with a deep draft of 38 feet and enclosed garage space for up to 800 vehicles or breakbulk cargo. In addition, the new vessels will have state-of-the-art green technology features, including a fuel efficient hull design, environmentally safe double hull fuel tanks, fresh water ballast systems and dual-fuel engines, meaning that they will be able to operate at speeds up to 23 knots on either conventional fuel oils or liquefied natural gas ("LNG") with some adaptation for LNG. These advancements are important to Hawaii as a means to reduce fuel consumption, and will result in significant emissions reductions over time.
Matson, Inc. is a U.S. transportation services company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. The company is listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “MATX.”
General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics is a leading U.S. shipyard constructing vessels for the U.S. military and for commercial operation in the Jones Act market.