Click for Aloha Freight Forwarders Home pageFREIGHT FORWARDERS, INC.
        


Customer
Service

  
Login
  
Forms
  
Quote
  
Pickup
  
Tracking

What's New

Information
   Locations, Contacts

Feedback


FAQs

Home
 
Fuel S/C




Click here for Fuel Surcharge information
Click here for Holiday Schedule


07/08/2010 - Fuel Surcharge update

Matson announced a reduction in the ocean fuel surcharge today. They reduced the surcharge by 2 percentage points to 25.5%.  This will be effective July 18.


07/01/2010 - Office Clerical Union negotiations at West Coast ports

As of midnight last night, the labor contract with the Office Clerical Union at the West Coast ports expired. There were some scattered labor disruptions reported around the LA and LB harbor this morning. However, we do not expect these issues to affect Aloha Freight and our customers. We are using Matson exclusively. Matson settled their negotiations with their OCU unit separately and no labor disruptions are expected. We will update if anything changes.


06/10/2010 - Hawaii Harbor expansion and wharfage fees

The Hawaii Harbor Division is making plans for expansion and renovation.  They plan on spending $618 million to modernize the Hawaii ports.  The state has issued a revenue enhancement schedule that includes several increases to the wharfage charges.  The first increase was effective March 1, 2010.  The increase was small and we absorbed the additional cost.  A larger increase will be effective July 1.  We are going to have to increase our wharfage fee by a few cents effective July 1.  For more information, please let us know or discuss it with your sales person.


04/29/2010

Matson has notified us that next week's departure of the Maunalei will be delayed.  This is the vessel that would normally sail on Wednesday morning, May 5.  The vessel will now depart at least 24 hours late.  It is scheduled to arrive in Honolulu Monday evening, a full day behind.  The delay is due to very poor weather out of China where this ship is connecting from.  Matson will be working with us on containers with neighbor island connections to hold vessels.  Please let your sales person know if you have concerns about the delay.  We appreciate your understanding.
 

03/16/2010

While in transit to Honolulu, the US Coast Guard requested the Matson vessel Mokihana to respond to emergency distress call from another mariner. As a result, the scheduled Wednesday evening arrival in Honolulu will be delayed until after midnight. Matson will begin discharge at 0230 with the start of the first shift Thursday morning. However, only a limited number of containers will be discharged and ready for pickup when the container yard opens at 0600 hours.  Most of our deliveries will likely be delayed one day.

Matson has told us they will continue to discharge through out the day. Their Maui and Big Island barges will be held for late sailing to accommodate our containers connecting onward.


02/17/2010

The state of Hawaii Department of Transportation announced that they will be increasing the wharfage fees to help fund improvements in the Hawaii harbors.  They are having an increase effective March 1 and another increase effective July 1. The steamship lines will be adjusting their wharfage charges effective March 14 to reflect the new charges.  They will adjust again in July.
 
 
Aloha Freight understands that any increase, even a fairly small one like this, can have an effect on our customers.  Aloha will absorb this first incremental increase.  However, we suggest that you plan for an increase in July coinciding with the second increase.  Our best guess at this time is to plan for a 3-4 cent per cube increase in wharfage.


01/27/2010

There has been a buzz around from the news article about a Horizon Lines vessel that lost some containers at sea this week.  You can see the article by clicking here.  No Aloha containers were on this vessel.  Our vessels have arrived intact and we have not had any damage or missing cargo due to weather.

The weather will be delaying transit time for another week.  Hopefully by then, the ships can catch back up to their regular schedule.  The ship that is due to depart today, Wednesday, will not leave until Thursday at noon.  The arrival in Honolulu will be on Monday evening, a day behind schedule.


01/22/2010

The severe weather we have been having on the west coast was bound to cause some problems.  The first casualty will be a delay in the vessel Maunalei 039 that departed Long Beach for Honolulu on Wednesday.  It was due into port on Sunday night 1/24.  It's arrival is estimated to be just over 24 hours late due to very rough seas.  Our deliveries throughout the islands will be delayed a full day for those shipments in transit.


12/16/2009 - Schedule Adjustment

Please remember to check our holiday schedule.  As posted, Matson has cancelled the Saturday departures for December 26 and January 2.  Please remember to adjust your shipping and receiving schedules accordingly.


12/12/2009 - Matson rate increase

Matson Navigation announced their annual rate increase.  The changes will be effective on 1/3/2010.  The steamship line's charges are such a huge portion of our costs, we have little choice except to pass on the increase.  Our ocean charges will have to increase effective on the same date.  We sent letters out to customers the first week of December.  Please let us know if you did not receive a notice.  A copy can be found by clicking here.


12/01/2009 - Sailing delayed

Matson Navigation has informed us that their vessel Manulani voyage 56 experienced heavy seas and severe weather conditions on its eastbound voyage from Hawaii to Long Beach.  The result will be a delayed departure of the vessel when it sails from Long Beach to Honolulu.  The vessel would normally depart on Wednesday 12/2, but will now depart Thursday afternoon.  It is scheduled to arrive in Honolulu on Monday December 7 at 2100 hours.  We are making plans to expedite all shipments when they arrive.

The neighbor island status is as follows:
Maui:  Availability Thursday or Friday vs. normal Tuesday availability.  We were able to expedite freight that we received on Monday to an earlier sailing, which will have normal avaliability.
Hilo:  Availability Thursday or Friday vs. normal Tuesday or Wednesday availability.



09/01/2009 - Fuel surcharge update

One of the steamship lines serving Hawaii announced that they would be increasing the fuel surcharge for Hawaii freight effective September 27.  Aloha Freight does not utilize that steamship line for any containers.  Our fuel surcharge will remain the same for the foreseeable future.  We will not increase our fuel surcharge at this time.
 

Tropical storm heading for the Islands

08/07/2009  -  Cyclone Felicia is in the Pacific and heading towards the Hawaiian Islands.  It is expected to downgrade to a tropical storm or depression before it gets to the Islands.  This will result in some heavy rains and winds on Monday and Tuesday.  Felicia will hit the Big Island first.  The Big Island will see heavy rainfall starting this weekend and expect very high winds on Monday night.  Most deliveries that would be scheduled for Monday and Tuesday will be delayed.  On Oahu and Maui, we expect to recover containers Monday and get freight ready for deliveries.  We will have to see how the weather affects our ability to deliver some of the freight.  Deliveries that must be made in an open truck may have to wait a day.  Please call our local office for more up to date information.

Update
08/10/2009 8am PDT - This is a severe storm.  3-4 inches of rain is expected in Hilo tonight.  Honolulu, 2-3 inches.  The Big Island (Hilo, Kona) should start to taper off Tuesday, but the Big Island, Maui and Oahu are still looking at 2-3 inches during the day and that much again over night.  Along with it comes high winds around 30 mph with gusts over 40, and very high surf.  It will be very difficult to make very many deliveries or pickups in this weather.

08/11/2009 - 9am PDT - The storm is weakening as it moves through Hawaii. It is still packing a lot of moisture and wind.  The center has passed100 miles north of Hilo.  At this time, it is140 miles east of Kahului, Maui and expected to move over the island some time today.  It is 230 miles east of Honolulu and will pass over it tonight.  It will reach Kauai tomorrow.  They have cancelled the storm warning for the Big Island, but it still remains in effect for all other islands.    Although the winds and rains are not going to be as heavy as feared, there is still plenty to knock out power and break branches that could block roads.  We have been working extra hard to stay on top of shipment deliveries so that service will be minimally impacted in case there are issues that could delay freight.
 

07/30/2009 - Another Era has Ended

After more than 29 years of unparalleled service, Wil Fukuzaki, Hawaii General Manager, retired Wednesday July 22nd from Aloha Freight.  It is impossible to list the numerous contributions that Wil has made to Aloha and the Hawaiian Marketplace in general over all these years.  It can be said with certainty that Aloha would not be where it is today if it was not for Wil and his skills, class, and perseverance.  Mahalo nui loa and good luck, Wil.  You will be missed.

 We don't want our friends to panic with these empty shoes that have been left behind.  We have been training some talented people to take Wil, Tom Kennedy and Carole Mizuno's place after each of their retirement.  It is not easy to replace these individuals, but we will make sure all our customers are satisfied.


03/20/2009 - LB/LA Clean Air Plan
 
There was a very interesting turn of events today.  The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that at least some of the ports' Clean Air Plan and concession requirements violate federal law.  They did not specifically strike down the Plan.  They remanded the case back to the US District Court for appropriate preliminary injunction.  This means that the District Court can and probably will find parts of the Plan illegal.  It is our interpretation that the requirement for clean trucks and the fees associated will prevail.  Few people are against cleaning the air and having a funding mechanism to upgrade the old equipment.  However, the employee-only mandate may fall, allowing owner-operators to continue to drive their own trucks.  There is no immediate time frame for the court to review the case but they were ordered to proceed as quickly as possible.


02/13/2009 - The End of an Era

After more than 37 years of unparalleled service, Tom Kennedy retired today from Aloha Freight.  It is impossible to list the numerous contributions that Tom has made to Aloha and the shipping industry in general over all these years.  Tom was the only sales person Aloha had on the mainland for quite a few years.  Aloha didn't need anyone else with Tom on the street.  It can be said with certainty that Aloha would not be where it is today if it was not for Tom and his skills, wit and perseverance.  In addition to the long service at Aloha, Tom also spent many years working at Matson and Griley Freightlines before coming to Aloha.  Mahalo nui loa and good luck, Tom.  You will be missed.
 




(back to top)



Please utilize our on-line customer service feedback form.  This form will direct us to areas that need improvement and let us know areas that are working for you.  Listening to you has resulted in a number of product enhancements which have helped us to improve our services.

 
Phone:  Los Angeles (310) 631-6116   -   Honolulu (808) 834-5931
We appreciate your comments or questions about this web site.  Please respond to the webmaster.