Shipping firms make a deal
By Glenn Scott
Advertiser Staff Writer
In a logistical move prompting rival shipping companies to work together, CSX Lines LLC will begin a contract with Matson Navigation Co. next month to ship some freight from Southern California to Hawai'i.
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Advertiser library photo • May 2000
SX sails its own ship once every other Wednesday from Long Beach to Honolulu. On off weeks starting in August, it will send its Honolulu-bound freight under its bill of lading on Matson vessels leaving at midweek from Los Angeles.
Matson Navigation Co. has agreed to carry CSX Lines' freight to Honolulu from Long Beach every other week. The service fills a gap in CSX's schedule and relieves CSX of trucking the Southern California freight to Oakland.
The change relieves CSX of trucking that freight to company terminals in Oakland, said Tom Cowan, a CSX vice president for Hawai'i, Guam and Alaska.
The value of the deal was not disclosed.
"We think this will be an effective way to move some of that cargo from Southern California," he said.
The new contract with Matson calls for logistical services, Cowan said, but the cargo still will go through CSX terminals at both ends.
"This is not an expansion of service," he said. "It's a different way of serving the market for us."
In a conference call with investors to discuss second-quarter earnings, W. Allen Doane, president and chief executive officer of Matson's parent Alexander & Baldwin Inc., said yesterday that the contract to carry CSX freight "on a regular basis" is a positive development for Matson, which has seen lower profits this year during the national economic slowdown.
Matson and CSX arranged occasionally to place freight on the other's vessels in previous instances when facing capacity limits, Matson spokes-man Jeff Hull said.
