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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.
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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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FREIGHT
FORWARDERS, INC.