Matson, Inc.

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.[4][5]

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.[6]

In 1924, Matson completed the Matson Building, designed by Bliss and Faville, at 215 Market Street in San Francisco, and noted as "one of a series of Chicago School skyscrapers built during the 1910s and 1920s which give San Francisco its downtown character."[7] 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.

For a brief period after World War II, Matson operated an airline using Douglas DC-4 aircraft between the Pacific Coast and Hawaii. The airline ultimately ceased operations because of political pressure from Pan American World Airways, which resulted in inability to obtain federal government scheduled operating authority.

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.[8]

In 2015, Matson, Inc., acquired Horizon Lines, formerly its main competitor in the United States domestic market, for $469 million.[9]

Historical image from Matson Lines promoting their 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.[10][11][12]

SS Lurline 1930s

The SS Monterey

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] In 1926, following the death of its founder, John D. Spreckels whose father, Claus Spreckels, had been Matson's earliest financier;[14] Matson took over the Oceanic Steamship Company (Spreckels Line),[15] operating three trans-Pacific liners, including the SS Sonoma.

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.[16] 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.[17]

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. They sold the four properties to Sheraton Hotels in 1959.

Matson containers being loaded into a ship

Matson's current cargo fleet of U.S.-flagged vessels include:[18]

• Anchorage / Kodiak / Tacoma (sister ships)
• Daniel K. Inouye / Kaimana Hila (sister ships - Aloha Class)
• Imua II / Liloa II (sister ships)
• Kamokuiki
• Lihue
• Lurline / Matsonia (sister ships - Kanaloa Class)
• Manoa / Mahimahi (C9 sister ships)
• Manulani / Maunawili / Manukai (sister ships)[19]
• Maunalei[20]
• Mokihana (C9 with garage conversion)
• Papa Mau
• R.J. Pfeiffer
• Haleakala
• Mauna Loa
• Waialeale

Shipping dock in Hilo Bay with Matson containers

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  Matson containers are ubiquitous in Hawaii.
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  A pair of Matson-Horizon containers, aging at the Walmart plaza.
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  Matson container ship, Tacoma, heading into Kodiak, Alaska.
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  Maritime flag of Matson, Inc.

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

• Cushing, John E (1951). Captain William Matson (1849–1917): From Handy Boy to Shipowner. New York: Newcomen Society in North America. OCLC 654333478.
• O'Brien, Duncan (2008). The White Ships: Matson Line to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia Via Samoa, Fiji, 1927–1978. Pier 19 Media. ISBN 978-0-968-67341-6.

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• The last ocean liners of Matson lines
• The Ocean Linear Virtual Museum - Matson Lines