Updated at 11:27 a.m., Friday, January 4, 2008
Matson raising fuel surcharge to 31.5% on Feb. 4
Advertiser Staff
Matson Navigation Co., the biggest ocean cargo carrier to Hawai'i, will raise its fuel charge on Feb. 4 to 31.5 percent.The shipping line said the 2.5 percentage point increase was needed because fuel costs have remained at "extraordinary levels." The rate applies to Matson's Hawai'i, Guam/CNMI and Micronesia services.
The company last raised the surcharge on Dec. 14, when it increased the charge to 29 percent. Matson is scheduled to increase its regular shipping rates and fees on Sunday. Those raises will increase rates on Jan. 6 by $75 per west-bound container and $40 per east-bound container. That's an average rate increase of 2.5 percent, the smallest annual increase in nearly a decade, the company said.
Matson also will raise its terminal handling charge by $125 per west-bound container and $60 per east-bound container effective Jan. 6.
Matson isn't the only shipping line raising surcharges because of oil prices.
Horizon Lines, the No. 2 ocean freight carrier to Hawai'i, last month announced an increase to its fuel surcharge by 3 percentage points to 32 percent starting on Feb. 4.
The ocean carrier said the surcharge will be in effect for shipments between the Mainland, Hawai'i and Guam and is necessary because of an "unprecedented bunker fuel costs" increase over the past six weeks.
