Honolulu-headquartered Matson has contracted Pennsylvania’s Philly Shipyard to build three 3,600TEU Aloha Class LNG-fuelled container ships for delivery in 2026-27 at an aggregate price of approximately $1 billion.
Once delivered, the Jones Act-compliant vessels will join two other Aloha class container carriers previously built for Matson by the Philly yard which entered service in 2018 and 2019, as well as a series of four smaller vessels delivered by the American builder between 2003 and 2006.
The latest Aloha class triplets will be equipped with dual-fuel engines capable of operating on either conventional marine fuels or LNG, and will have a service speed in excess of 23 knots to allow them to run on the company’s highly competitive China-Long Beach, California express service.
Report by Jim Shaw
