{{Short description|American shipping company}} {{more citations needed|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox company | name = Matson, Inc. | logo = Matson logo.jpg | image = Matson GGB.JPG | image_caption = A Matson container ship passing under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, US. | type = Public | traded_as = {{Unbulleted list|{{NYSE|MATX}}|DJTA component|S&P 600 component}} | founded = {{start date and age|1882|04|10}} (as Matson Navigation Company) | location = Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | key_people = Matthew J. Cox {{nowrap|(Chairman and CEO)}} | area_served = United States | industry = Shipping, navigation | products = | revenue = {{increase}} {{US$|3.42&nbsp;billion|link=yes}} (2024) | operating_income = {{increase}} {{US$|551&nbsp;million}} (2024) | net_income = {{increase}} {{US$|476&nbsp;million}} (2024) | assets = {{increase}} {{US$|4.59&nbsp;billion}} (2024) | equity = {{increase}} {{US$|2.65&nbsp;billion}} (2024) | num_employees = 4,356 | num_employees_year = 2024 | parent = | subsid = | homepage = {{URL|https://matson.com}} | footnotes = <ref name=10K>{{cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/3453/000155837025001875/matx-20241231x10k.htm |title=2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K) |date=February 28, 2025 |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}</ref> }} [[File:House flag of Matson, Inc.svg|thumb|Maritime flag of Matson, Inc.]] '''Matson, Inc.''', is an American shipping and navigation services company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded in 1882,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=2524109|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110221103259/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=2524109|url-status= dead|archive-date= February 21, 2011|title=Company profile Matson, Inc. |publisher=Businessweek |access-date=14 March 2013}}</ref> Matson, Inc.'s subsidiary Matson Navigation Company provides ocean shipping services across the Pacific to Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Micronesia, the Pacific islands, China, and Japan.

==History== 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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Middlemiss|first=Norman|title=Matson Lines The Hawaiian Shipping Company |url=https://www.shippingtandy.com/features/matson-lines/|website=shippingtandy.com |publisher=Shipping News Today and Yesterday |access-date=April 4, 2023 |date=November 9, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://maritime-executive.com/article/matson-orders-three-more-panamax-lng-boxships-from-philly-shipyard|title=Matson Orders Three More Panamax LNG Boxships From Philly Shipyard|website=maritime-executive.com|publisher=The Maritime Executive|date=November 2, 2022|access-date=April 3, 2023}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cypresslawnheritagefoundation.org/william-lurline/|title=William Matson & Lurline Matson Roth|website=cypresslawnheritagefoundation.org|date=4 September 2020 |publisher=Cypress Lawn Heritage Museum|access-date=April 5, 2023}}</ref>

In 1924, Matson completed the Matson Building, designed by Bliss and Faville, at 215 Market Street in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/991/|title= Matson Lines Building, South of Market, San Francisco, CA|website=pcad.lib.washington.edu|publisher=Pacific Coast Architecture Database|access-date=April 5, 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Star-Advertiser |first=Honolulu |title=Alexander & Baldwin to split into 2 publicly traded companies - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser |url=http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/134862378.html?id=134862378 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229053358/http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/134862378.html?id=134862378 |archive-date=2011-12-29 |access-date=2025-10-01 |website=www.staradvertiser.com |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2015, Matson, Inc., acquired Horizon Lines, formerly its main competitor in the United States domestic market, for $469 million.<ref name="Schwing">{{cite news | last =Schwing | first =Emily | title =With Matson acquisition final, Horizon Lines no longer exists | newspaper =KTOO | location =Juneau, United States | date =5 June 2015 | url =http://www.ktoo.org/2015/06/05/matson-acquisition-final-horizon-lines-no-longer-exists/ | access-date = 5 June 2015}}</ref>thumb|upright|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 {{TEU|3,600|first=yes}} Jones Act compliant container ships at a cost of $1 billion.<ref>{{cite news | last =Segal | first =Dave | title =Matson Inc. to buy 3 vessels totaling $1 billion; profit falls | date = November 3, 2022 | url =https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/11/03/hawaii-news/matson-to-buy-3-vessels-totaling-1-billion-profit-falls/ | publisher = Star Advertiser | access-date = April 3, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Matson Orders Three LNG-fueled Containerships from Philly Shipyard |url=https://www.marinelink.com/news/matson-orders-three-lngfueled-500665 |website=MarineLink.com |publisher=Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. |access-date=April 3, 2023 |date=November 2, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://maritime-executive.com/article/matson-orders-three-more-panamax-lng-boxships-from-philly-shipyard|title=Matson Orders Three More Panamax LNG Boxships From Philly Shipyard|website=maritime-executive.com|publisher=The Maritime Executive|date=November 2, 2022|access-date=April 3, 2023}}</ref>

==Passenger ships== thumb|SS ''Lurline'' in the 1930s thumb|SS ''Monterey'' during World War II Primarily a conveyor of freight; from 1908 on, Matson introduced into service a number of passenger liners to capitalize on the burgeoning tourist trade.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.usmm.org/matson.html |title=YACHT LURLINE FIRST IN PORT |publisher=Los Angeles Herald, Volume 35, Number 291|date=July 19, 1908 }}</ref> Matson took over the Oceanic Steamship Company in May 1926.<ref name="nyt-1926">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/16/archives/matson-buys-oceanic-line-acquires-routes-to-south-seas-and.html|title=Matson Buys Oceanic Line |agency=Associated Press |work=The New York Times |date=May 16, 1926 |orig-date=May 15, 1926 |page=11 |access-date=December 21, 2025}}</ref>

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, {{SS|Maui|1916|2}} and {{SS|Wilhelmina||2}}, were the first passenger ships to place their engines aft.

Among the "white ships of Matson" were ''Malolo'' (rechristened ''Matsonia''), ''Lurline'', ''Mariposa'', and ''Monterey''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Brien, Duncan, 1967-|title=The grand manner of Matson|date=October 2014|isbn=978-0-9686734-3-0|location=Victoria, B.C., Canada|oclc=881138788}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.matson.com/bos/history_sec0101.shtml |title=History of the Matson Fleet |publisher=Matson Navigation Company |access-date=2009-08-23 |archive-date=2009-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712042814/http://www.matson.com/bos/history_sec0101.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Hotels== 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Hotel Waikiki |url=https://www.royal-hawaiian.com/history-overview/ |access-date=2026-02-22 |website=Royal Hawaiian Resort |language=ja}}</ref> Matson sold the four properties to Sheraton Hotels in 1959.

== Current fleet == Matson's current cargo fleet of U.S.-flagged vessels include:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Matson's Fleet|url=https://www.matson.com/track-matsons-fleet.html/|access-date=2021-01-23|website=Matson.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

* ''Anchorage / Kodiak / Tacoma'' (sister ships) * ''Daniel K. Inouye / Kaimana Hila'' (sister ships - Aloha Class)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phillyshipyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/3600_TEU_data_sheet.pdf|format=PDF|title=Aloha Class 3,600 TEU CV-LNG Ready|website=Phillyshipyard.com|access-date=2026-02-05}}</ref> * ''Imua II / Liloa II'' (sister ships) * ''Kamokuiki'' * ''Lihue'' * ''Lurline / Matsonia'' (sister ships - Kanaloa Class)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nassco.com/wp-content/uploads/Matson-Kanaloa-Class-ConRo_Fact-Sheet-2016.pdf|format=PDF|title=Matson Kanaloa Class ConRo|website=Nassco.com|access-date=2026-02-05}}</ref> * ''Manoa / Mahimahi'' (C9 sister ships) * ''Manulani / Maunawili / Manukai'' (sister ships)<ref>{{Cite web |title=2600 Class Data Sheet |url=https://www.phillyshipyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cv2600_data_sheet.pdf |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=Phillyshipyard.com}}</ref> * ''Maunalei''<ref>{{Cite web |title=2500 Class Data Sheet |url=https://www.phillyshipyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cv2500_data_sheet.pdf |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=Phillyshipyard.com}}</ref> * ''Mokihana'' (C9 with garage conversion) * ''Papa Mau'' * ''R.J. Pfeiffer'' * ''Haleakala'' * ''Mauna Loa'' * ''Waialeale''

==See also== *Young Brothers Hawaii *Pasha Hawaii *List of largest container shipping companies

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Cushing |first=John E |year=1951 |title=Captain William Matson (1849–1917): From Handy Boy to Shipowner |place=New York |publisher=Newcomen Society in North America |oclc=654333478}} * {{cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Duncan |year=2008 |title=The White Ships: Matson Line to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia Via Samoa, Fiji, 1927–1978 |publisher=Pier 19 Media |isbn=978-0-968-67341-6}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Matson, Inc.}} * {{Official website|http://www.matson.com}} {{Finance links | name = Matson, Inc. | symbol = MATX | sec_cik = MATX | yahoo = MATX | google = MATX }} *

{{Container shipping companies}} {{United States-flag shipping companies}}

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Category:Shipping companies of the United States Category:Ferry companies of Hawaii Category:Transportation companies based in California<!--1882-2012--> Category:Water transportation in Hawaii Category:Companies based in Honolulu Category:Companies based in Oakland, California Category:Transport companies established in 1882 Category:1882 establishments in California<!--as Matson Navigation Company--> Category:Corporate spin-offs Category:2012 establishments in Hawaii<!--as Matson Inc--> Category:Dole plc Category:Companies in the Dow Jones Transportation Average Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Category:Container shipping companies of the United States Category:Container shipping companies