Matson Navigation Co. struggled to dominance in Hawaiian shipping in a time when the kingdom's major companies owned their own ships.
The German firm Hackfeld & Co., later Amfac, sent its ships to Bremen. The British firm Theo H. Davies sent ships and cargo to Liverpool. C. Brewer, Alexander & Baldwin, and Castle & Cooke sent their ships to Boston.
Then in 1882, a brash young Swede named William Matson arrived in a tiny schooner loaded with merchandise from San Francisco. He was able to easily sell his groceries, but sugar cargoes for the return trip were all tied up. It is a tribute to Matson's charm and salesmanship that he edged into the tightly controlled shipping market in Hawai'i.
One ace up Matson's sleeve was that he sent his schooner, the Emma Claudine, to Hilo, a port neglected by the Honolulu shippers. From that small opening, Matson managed to steadily increase his share of the Hawaiian trade until the major companies found it more economical to buy into Matson Lines instead of owning their own ships.
As a nonperishable cargo, sugar could be carried on slow sailing ships, another opportunity for Matson, because in those years, the increased popularity of steam meant he could buy windjammers relatively cheaply. His first fleet, including the Falls of Clyde, was entirely wind-driven.
However, Matson rapidly bought steamers to replace the sailing ships. He was among the first to ship fuel oil to Hawai'i, replacing coal as a cheap power source for plantation mills.
During the era when passengers crossed oceans on liners, Matson's Lurline and Matsonia carried movie stars and college students between California and Hawai'i.
Through shipping, Matson Lines became a big factor in developing Hawai'i tourism. The firm built the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1927 as a destination resort for its new luxury liner, the Malolo.
With the demise of ocean travel, Matson maintained its dominance by switching to the use of containers for shipping cargo.
