Matson’s new containership carries special cargo on board

Matson’s newest containership left Honolulu on Friday night to complete its first round trip between California and Hawaii for what is expected to be decades of service, and riding along with the crew and cargo is something special.

Mounted in a stairway connecting eight crew decks is the Distinguished Service Cross of Hawaii’s late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, who received the medal in 1952 for extraordinary heroism during World War II fighting in Italy in 1945.

Inouye’s widow, Irene, donated the medal along with its certification document to Matson, which named the ship after the man who was a strong supporter of the domestic maritime industry. A koa canoe paddle and photo of Inouye are part of the framed display.

Matson showed off the roughly $210 million ship, which is the biggest containership ever built in the United States, during tours for the media, customers and employees Friday before a scheduled 8 p.m. departure for Oakland, Calif.

The vessel, which was built in a Philadelphia shipyard and can carry the equivalent of 3,600 20-foot containers, left California on Thanksgiving with its first load of cargo, which was delivered to Honolulu on Wednesday.

As part of Friday’s event at Pier 2 in Honolulu Harbor, the ship and its senior officers were decked out.

The ship was adorned with red, white and blue bunting along with giant Hawaii and U.S. flags while Capt. Brian McNamara, First Officer Lee Townsend and other senior crew members put on dress uniforms including hats that they don’t normally wear for work.

“It’s been 20 years since I wore this,” Townsend said, referring to the white-and-black uniforms known as “salt and peppers.”

McNamara said captaining a new ship is a big deal in the domestic cargo shipping industry because so few new ships are built.

Matson’s oldest ship, the Lihue, was built in 1971. The company’s last new ship built before the Inouye was the Maunalei in 2006.

Part of the reason relatively few containerships are built in the U.S. is industry contraction. New domestic ships are also expensive. U.S. law requires that all cargo moved between two U.S. ports be carried by vessels that are built in the country, owned by a U.S. entity and operated by a U.S. crew. Inouye was a longtime advocate for the 98-year-old law known as the Jones Act.

“For me it’s a privilege,” McNamara said about being named one of two rotating captains for the Inouye.

Matt Cox, Matson chairman and CEO, said the next two years will be a time of great change for the Honolulu-based company as it takes delivery of three more new ships being built in Philadelphia and San Diego.

“It’s an exciting time for us,” he said.

The four new ships, costing a combined $929 million, will allow Matson to scrap seven ships that were built between 1971 and 1980. Four of those older ships are held in reserve. Because the new ships can carry more containers, they will allow Matson to reduce its Hawaii fleet from 10 active ships to nine late next year, when the third new ship should be finished. That move is expected to save the company $30 million a year in operating expenses.