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Click here for Fuel Surcharge information
Click here for Holiday Schedule
01/03/2012 - Late arriving vessel in Honolulu
The vessel Matsonia 522 that departed Long Beach on Saturday 12/31/11 will
be arriving into Honolulu more than 12 hours late. Containers would
usually be available starting Thursday morning on January 5. They will not
become available until the afternoon. There was extremely heavy fog in
Long Beach and the ship had to delay its departure and then run slower than
usual.
We will work as quickly as we can to get freight available and meet
scheduled deliveries. The holidays during the past two weeks has already
made it challenging to deliver all freight timely.
12/08/2011 - Occupy Wall Street impact on Ports
It has been announced in the news recently that the Occupy movement is
planning on shutting down the west coast ports on Monday, December 12. How
will this affect your Hawaii shipments? Please note that this is not a
strike or any labor issue. The Occupy people have had the backing of labor
groups in most of their efforts, but labor unions have not sanctioned any
actions for this specific event. There will be protests and marches on
Monday possibly disrupting traffic in the port, but labor is not expected to
walk off the job.
Aloha does very little work in the harbor on Monday. We are between
sailings and most of our drayage is done on Tuesday for the Wednesday sailing.
We do not expect this to disrupt any Hawaii shipments. For some additional
information,
click here to see some press releases.
UPDATE MONDAY: as of 10:15am, there is no disruption at the Matson terminal.
Workflow is normal and traffic is minimally affected. There is "Occupy"
activity elsewhere around the harbor, but not at the area around Matson.
12/03/2011 - Holiday schedule
Matson Lines has confirmed their holiday shipping schedule. There is
basically no change from the normal Long Beach sailing schedule with Wednesday
and Saturday departures. The arrival dates in Honolulu are noteworthy. The
Wednesday sailing that departs on December 21 arrives in Honolulu on Monday
December 26. The 26th is a national holiday. Deliveries will start
on Tuesday, a day later than normal. The same situation will occur for the December 28 departure
that arrives Monday January 2. A link to our Holiday Sailing Schedule is
above.
12/01/2011 - Annual steamship rate adjustment
The steamship lines have announced their annual rate increase. It will
be effective January 1, 2012. The increase represents an ocean increase of
approximately 5.6% and an increase in the Terminal Handling Charge that equates
to around $.05 per cube. These increases are extremely unfortunate.
We do everything that we can to minimize the increase. Our letter to
customers can be found by clicking here.
Matson's announcement is posted by
clicking here.
Your sales person will have exact charges and will be in contact. Feel
free to reach out to them if you have questions or concerns. Our web rates
are up to date and any quote that you do online for a shipment date after 1/1
will reflect the correct charges.
10/06/2011 - Decrease in Fuel Surcharge
We are always hearing so much talk about rising costs, it is nice to hear
about reductions for a change. Matson has announced they are reducing the
ocean fuel surcharge effective this Sunday. This will be the third
reduction in the last two months. The surcharge is still sizable
unfortunately. It is being reduced two percentage points to 40.5%.
05/12/2011 - Fuel Surcharge increase effective 6/12/11
The steamship lines announced an increase in the ocean fuel surcharge.
Matson is quoted "As a result of sustained near record high fuel prices over the
past month, Matson is raising its fuel surcharge by 4 percentage points".
They further state "Since announcing our last increase on March 31, fuel prices
not only failed to stabilize, but continued to rise."
We have all heard in the news that fuel demand is decreasing and that is helping to
keep gasoline prices down compared to recent highs. The demand for bunker
fuel that the ships use has not gone down. As the world economy picks up,
it has increased. It is a different fuel than we put in our cars, so the
price trend does not always match what we see at the pump. Let's hope the
barrel price continues to drop and bunker fuel prices do the same.
Matson will continue to monitor fuel prices and adjust the surcharge
accordingly. The steamship charges are such a large part of Aloha's costs,
we will need to pass this increase on. The new fuel surcharge rate will be
47.5% effective 6/12/11. We hope for your understanding with our need to
increase the surcharge.
04/04/2011 - Matson announces another major Fuel Surcharge change
Matson announced last Friday a major increase to the ocean Fuel Surcharge
effective on May 1. This comes after their announcement of a projected
operating loss for the first quarter of this year. To see Matson's fuel
surcharge announcement,
click here.
We will continue to do everything we can to keep costs down. The fuel
surcharge that the steamship lines apply is one area that we have very little
control over. We will have to add the additional surcharge to our invoices
upon the effective date. We appreciate your understanding.
03/11/2011 - Affects of the earthquake near Japan
I am sure everyone knows about the tragic earthquake that struck off the
coast of Japan. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those affected by it.
In Hawaii, the tsunami that resulted from the earthquake has been felt, but
thankfully has not had a large affect. As a precaution, roads near the
coast were closed as were the harbors. We are open or will open this
morning on all islands. Some businesses will still be closed however.
On the big island, the surge was strong. There are areas around Kona that
will remain closed today. The ocean did crest the sea wall and flooded
streets causing some water damage to shoreline roads and some buildings.
As of this moment, we don't expect any serious delays in shipments or damage to
shipments.
02/25/2011 - A major Fuel Surcharge Adjustment announced
Matson announced today a pending ocean Fuel Surcharge adjustment effective
3/27/11. This one is big. The FSC will increase to 35% on that date.
The uncertainty in the markets due to the recent events in the Middle East is
having a huge effect on fuel prices. Hopefully the prices and the market
panic does not get any worse.
A copy of Matson's announcement is here.
01/28/2011 - Fuel Surcharge Adjustment
Matson announced an increase in their fuel surcharge today. The
increase will be effective 2/27/11 and will move the charge to 26.5 percent.
There have been decreases, but this is the first increase in almost a year.
Aloha will have to adjust our fuel surcharge accordingly.
12/09/2010 - Rates for 2011
The 2011 rate adjustments were announced by Matson on November 24.
They intend to increase the ocean charges by approximately 3.8% and the Terminal
Handling Charge by 19%. This results in an increase of over 8% on most
shipments. Most of our customers have been notified by this time how this
will affect their charges with Aloha. Matson forces us to increase our
ocean charge, but we are holding our trucking rates the same to lessen this
burden. We are going on three years without increasing our trucking rates.
If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us or your sales
person directly.
A copy of our announcement can be viewed by
clicking here.
10/28/2010 - Holiday Schedule
The steamship lines have finalized the schedule for the Christmas and New
Years holiday sailings. The normal Saturday sailing falls on these
holidays. They will be sailing the two vessels one day earlier on Friday.
This will mean that our cutoff for the sailings will be one day sooner also,
Thursday for both weeks. Please check the link above for more details or
contact us for more details.
10/11/2010 - Fuel Surcharge
One of the two shipping lines serving Hawaii announced their intent today to
raise the ocean fuel surcharge. Aloha does not use this steamship line, so
our fuel surcharge will not increase at this time. Matson uses newer and
more fuel efficient ships. Aloha's surcharge will stay the same as it has
been since early September.
09/13/2010 - Ocean Fuel Surcharge
Matson announced another reduction in the ocean fuel surcharge. This
is effective today. The new rate is 21.75%. Please check out the
link to the left or near the top of this page for more detailed information.
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.
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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.
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FORWARDERS, INC.