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Breaking Alert

8/21/2015

Dear Valued Customer:

The below notification was received from Matson Navigation Company (“Matson”) this morning. Since Pasha Hawaii took over the Horizon Lines ocean carriage to Hawaii, there have been “start up” issues that have resulted in freight temporarily (we think) moving over to Matson. We look forward to better days in the future when shipping to Hawaii has resettled and has become less of a daily challenge.

Matson’s notification follows:

Subject:  Additional Initiatives to Address Increased Hawaii Cargo Volumes

Dear Matson Customer:

We would like to update you on initiatives designed to address volume related challenges in Honolulu.

Matson continues to experience a significant increase in overall volume to Hawaii.  To
accommodate the added cargo, we increased vessel capacity by adding a 10th ship in
our regular schedule as of July 3.  Since then, we’ve also added an 11th ship to the
rotation on an as-needed basis.

Meanwhile, the increased cargo has created congestion at our Honolulu terminal,
slowing productivity and forcing us to ground some containers, making them unavailable
for immediate pickup.  We have taken several steps to remedy this situation, including:

Supplemented Sand Island Yard space:

·       Increased utilization of our West Oahu off-dock container yard.

·       Movement of loads to our Sand Island Annex yard.

·       These initiatives reduce the amount of loads at our main Sand Island terminal, freeing up yard space and making the terminal more fluid.       

Increased chassis inventory:

·       More than 400 added on Oahu by August 31.   

Increased hours at Sand Island Terminal Gate:

·       Earlier gate hours Monday through Friday, starting daily at 0600.

·       Saturday and Sunday gate hours from 0700-1145.

·       Continued night gates on Sunday and Wednesday

Increased focus on enforcing vessel cut-off times: 

·       Keeping Honolulu fluid depends on timely vessel arrivals.  To arrive on time, we have to sail on time, and that means enforcing cut-off times.  

·       The biggest improvement has been our Tuesday Oakland sailing.  Strictly adhering to our 10:00 cut-off time is allowing the vessel to arrive Saturday in Honolulu, improving terminal performance throughout the busy weekend.  

These actions are expected to help us restore service levels that you have come to expect when shipping with Matson.  We will not rest until we accomplish that goal.

For an updated overview of our current deployment, click on the link below. 
http://www.matson.com/matnav/schedules/matson_enhanceddeployment.pdf

Should you have any questions, please contact your local DHX office or Representative, or call us at (800) 488-4888, Ext. 2020.

Sincerely,

Brad Dechter

President