South Pacific Territory of American Samoa

SAMOANA (ex-Tacoma Trader) joined SPX on 30 May 2017 when he arrived at the port of Honolulu. August 8, 2017 Matson announces to provide the Papeete destiny, Tahiti, French Polynesia, on its SPX services by transhipment in Samoa to Kyowa Shipping Co Ltd. Kyowa Line starts with Kyowa's TROPICAL ISLANDER VIPAGE 119 and reaches Papeete on September 4, 2017.

At the beginning of April 2018, Matson added a second small, time-chartered container vessel, the Antigua & Barbuda flag IMUA II (ex-Celia), which was deployed for Papeete in Honolulu on 9 April 2018. The IMUA II was previously in service at Matson South Pacific Limited in Auckland, New Zealand.

Matson is also exchanging the existing SAMOANA (ex-Tacoma Trader) for another small, time-chartered container ship, the Portugal flag MARIA P (ex-Pioneer Bay). MARIA P set sail from Honolulu for her first SPX trip to Papeete on 27 March 2018. MARIA P is re-named SAMOANA on April 24.

New SPX ports are Honolulu / Papeete / Pago Pago / Apia / Nuku'alofa (Tonga) / Honolulu. These rotations began with the departures of SAMOANA (ex-Tacoma Trader) from Honolulu on 13 March. The use of two small container vessels on the new route, whereby each vessel completes the round trip in approx. 28 working day and the two vessels sail opposite each other, results in a 14-day dutyload.

Matson intends to transport a large part of its SPX freight on the US continent via its current U.S. West Coast (USWC) / Hawaii major line, which will be forwarded to the SPX vessels via its Honolulu terminal on Sand Island in Honolulu Harbor. Matson' s SPX is competing with two major shipping lines, each of which has a container ship in a conferencing configuration and offers connections directly from Oakland and Los Angeles, California, to the harbours of Papeete, Apia and Pago Pago (they do not sail directly to Nuku'alofa).

Bearing the European standard Polinesia (ex-Hansa Salzburg, year of construction 2011, 1740 TPE-section, loading harness 2 x 40 tons); and (ii) Maersk Line / Hamburg Südsee-Service with the Singapore label CAP TAPUTAPUU (year of construction 2014, 1,103 TPE-section, loading harness 2 x 45 tons). Ships flying international flags are employed by all sea lines or shipowners that operate between US harbours in Hawaii and on the USWC and American Samoa.

While this appears to be a breach of the Jones Act's coda ways, it is not because the American Samoa Isles were exempt from naval coda by the 1899 Tripartite Agreement to conclude the Second Samoan Civil War. It split the Samoan Isles between the United States and the German Empire and gave the United Kingdom full sovereignty over Tonga.

By adding another vessel and two additional harbours to its SPX services, Mr Matsson has significantly increased the share in competitive bidding with the two shipping companies that operate directly from the USWC to the South Pacific targets.