Philly Shipyard Inc. in Pennsylvania held a ceremony Monday to mark the start of construction on the first of three new Aloha Class containerships that will be delivered to Matson Inc. in 2026 and 2027.
Philly Shipyard, a leading U.S. commercial shipyard constructing vessels for operation in the domestic Jones Act trade lanes, previously delivered four newly built Jones Act containerships for Matson between 2003 and 2006.
“Today we celebrate not only the beginning of production, but also the return of Matson to Philly Shipyard for our third project together,” Steinar Nerbovik, Philly Shipyard’s President and CEO, said Monday. “We are thrilled to build these next vessels, which are expected to help Matson achieve its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions goal, an initiative well-aligned with our commitment to people and planet.”
Matson, which has set corporate goals to achieve a 40 percent reduction in Scope 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) fleet emissions by 2030 and net-zero Scope 1 GHG emissions by 2050, said the three new vessels represent an investment of roughly $1 billion.
The containerships are designed for Matson’s Hawaii and China-Long Beach Express (CLX) services, and will be built to match the size and speed of the company’s two existing Aloha Class ships, which were also built by Philly Shipyard and entered service in 2018 and 2019, respectively, as the largest containerships ever constructed in the United States.
Like their sister ships, 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, according to Philly Shipyard.
While the earlier ships required some modification to operate with LNG, the new ships will be delivered LNG-ready, with the first vessel expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2026 with subsequent deliveries in 2027.
“Our existing Aloha Class ships are among the fastest, most efficient vessels in the Matson fleet,” said Matt Cox, Matson’s chairman and chief executive officer. “And like their sister ships, these three new vessels will help Matson achieve its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal while also providing additional capacity and speed benefitting our Hawaii service, as well as the CLX.”
The Honolulu-based Matson said the three new Aloha Class ships will replace three vessels currently deployed in Matson’s Hawaii and CLX services.