US-BASED shipping firm Matson Navigation announced yesterday that it was profitable on its 15-month-old container shipping route between China and the United States.
Speaking to reporters in Shanghai, Matson Chairman Allen Doane said performance "exceeded our expectations." Revenues from the route now make up 15 percent of its total shipping business.
The weekly service passes through Ningbo and Shanghai before arriving 11 days later at Long Beach, California. Matson said it handles 50,000 containers on the route annually.
'Exploring'
The Hawaiian company invested US$365 million in vessels, containers and terminal assets in setting up the route last year. It has no plans to expand capacity, but is "actively exploring opportunities" for a second route from China.
Yesterday, Matson also announced the start of a "money-back guarantee" promise on the China-US service. It will compensate customers if containers arrive late. Doane said this was to "differentiate us from our competitors."
Matson is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Alexander and Baldwin. The latter's 2006 revenues stood unchanged at US$1.6 billion. Its profits fell three percent to US$122.5 million.