Matson Navigation Co. said yesterday it will raise its shipping rates for the company's Guam/Rota/Tinian service by $100 per container effective Aug. 21.

Matson announced earlier this year that it is investing $365 million in new ships, containers and terminals to launch its new Guam and China service starting in February 2006.

Matson also said effective Aug. 21 it will boost its West Coast wharfage rates by 5 percent across the board and raise terminal handling charges to $165 per container from $125 per container. In addition to the increase in the per-container handling cha-rge, rates for moving vehicles will increase by $25.

NATION WORLD

KIMBERLY-CLARK TO CUT 6,000 JOBS

Kimberly-Clark Corp. announced plans yesterday to cut 6,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its work-force, and to sell or close 20 plants worldwide, adding to a recent rash of job cuts by U.S. employers.

The cuts will be made over the next three years, and could affect everyone from manufacturing workers to employees at the consumer-products giant's Irving, Texas, headquarters.

Shares rose $1.53 to close to $64.38.

HALLIBURTON SHARES JUMP

Oilfield services firm Halliburton Co.'s shares soared 10 percent yesterday after it reported that an influx of new government contracts at its KBR and energy services units drove it to a second-quarter profit.

In a report after the markets closed Thursday, Halliburton said it earned $392 million, or 78 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30 compared with a loss of $667 million, or $1.52 per share, last year. The year-ago result included a $200 million loss from an offshore engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning project in Brazil.

Revenue rose 4 percent to $5.2 billion from $5 billion.

FORD PONDERS MORE JOB CUTS

After a disappointing performance in the first half of the year, Ford Motor Co. is considering cutting more salaried workers, a company spokesman said yesterday.

Ford spokesman Oscar Suris wouldn't confirm a report in The Wall Street Journal that said Ford may lay off up to 30 percent of its white-collar work-force — about 10,500 of its 35,000 salaried workers — in North America over the next few years.

But he noted that earlier this week, Ford Chief Financial Officer Don Leclair said "nothing is off the table" when asked about possible cuts.

CHINESE BUY BRITISH AUTO FIRM

Administrators for MG Rover Group Ltd. said yesterday that the collapsed British automaker has been bought by Chinese carmaker Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corp.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, which took over administration of Rover when the automaker filed for bankruptcy in April, said Nanjing had bought the assets of both MG Rover Group and its engine-producing subsidiary, Powertrain Ltd.

The terms were not disclosed and PwC officials did not immediately return calls.