Philly Shipyard has started building the first of three new LNG-powered containerships for US shipping firm Matson.
Back in 2022, Matson ordered these three 3600-teu Aloha Class containerships at Philly Shipyard for about $1 billion.
Matson expects to take delivery of these Jones Act-compliant vessels in the fourth quarter of 2026 with subsequent deliveries in 2027.
According to a statement by Matson on September 30, after a small ceremony at Philly Shipyard in Pennsylvania, the cutting of steel plates began, initiating the work to build the ships for delivery to Matson in 2026 and 2027.
The vessels are designed for Matson’s Hawaii and China-Long Beach Express (CLX) services and will replace three vessels currently deployed in Matson’s Hawaii and CLX services.
Also, the vessel will be built to match the size and speed of Matson’s two existing Aloha Class ships, Daniel K. Inouye, and Kamina Hila, which were also built by Philly Shipyard and entered service in 2018 and 2019, respectively, as the largest containerships ever constructed in the US.
Like their sisterships, the new vessels will be equipped with dual-fuel engines designed to operate on either conventional marine fuels or liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as other “green ship technology” features, such as a fuel-efficient hull design, environmentally safe double hull fuel tanks, and freshwater ballast systems.
Names announced
Matson plans to name the three new containerships Makua, Malama, and Makena.
Founded in 1882 as a Hawaii-focused business, Matson has a long tradition of giving Hawaiian names to its vessels serving Hawaii, and also reusing vessel names from the early 20th century.
Most recently, Matson reused the names Lurline and Matsonia for its Kanaloa Class vessels delivered in 2019 and 2020 – the sixth and fifth vessels, respectively.
LNG conversions
Besides these vessels, Matson is converting its existing ships to use LNG as fuel.
In February, Matson awarded a retrofit contract to Cosco Shipping Shipyard (Nantong) for the 2019-built 3,600-teu containership, Kaimana Hila, to enable the vessel to use LNG as fuel.
The Aloha Class containership is a sister vessel to Daniel K. Inouye.
Daniel K. Inouye is Matson’s first retrofitted containership and it features three 1350-cbm type C LNG fuel tanks supplied by Singapore’s C-LNG Solutions and MAN’s 7S90ME-GI engine.
Last year, Cosco Shipping Shipyard (Nantong) completed the retrofit job on Daniel K. Inouye.
In addition to these two vessels, Matson is working to replace the main engine on its containership, Manukai, with a dual-fuel engine.