Matson, Inc. (NYSE: MATX), a leading U.S. carrier in the Pacific, has announced the introduction of service to the Port of Naha, Okinawa as part of its expedited China-Long Beach Express (CLX) service, offering transit times from the U.S. West Coast up to four days faster than existing services in the market. The new weekly service will make its first call at Naha on February 18, 2017.
Westbound transit times to Naha will be 20 days from Seattle, 18 days from Oakland, 17 days from Long Beach and 10 days from Honolulu. Eastbound transits from Naha will be 14 days to Long Beach, 17 days to Oakland and 33 days to Seattle.
Along with fastest transit times, Matson's dedicated terminal operations on the West Coast provide shippers with late cut-off times, industry-leading truck turn times and use of Matson's extensive owned chassis inventory throughout the U.S.
Matson operates its CLX service with five U.S. flagged vessels carrying containerized and bulk cargo. These vessels will be the most modern vessels serving Okinawa from the U.S.
The new service will commence with departures from Seattle on January 28, Oakland on January 31 and Long Beach on February 1 with a first Naha arrival on February 18, 2017.
"Matson has been rated the #1 ocean carrier in the world for three years running because of its commitment to operating the fastest and most reliable service in the markets we serve," said John Lauer, senior vice president, Ocean Services.
"Consistent with that commitment and Matson's strategy to look for ways to leverage its superior Pacific network to offer new services, adding Naha allows us to provide the fastest service to an important locale for the U.S. government without diminishing our eastbound CLX capacity out of China. The westbound transit time from Long Beach to Naha will save shippers up to four days on existing services in the market."
Bookings for westbound cargo to Naha will be handled by Matson's award-winning Customer Service Center. Matson has appointed Pacific Logistics, Inc. as its exclusive agent handling bookings for eastbound cargo from Naha.
Naha will replace the current direct call at Xiamen, China in our China-Long Beach Express (CLX) service, which will then call Long Beach-Honolulu-Guam-Naha-Ningbo-Shanghai-Long Beach.
Matson will maintain its office in Xiamen to continue serving Xiamen customers with transshipment via Shanghai. The last direct call at Xiamen will be Sunday, February 5.
Source: Matson