U.S. military gets door-to-door container service in Hawaii

U.S. military gets door-to-door container service in Hawaii    Defense cargo shippers for the first time will receive door-to-door service between the American mainland and Hawaiian island locations from the two primary U.S.-flag commercial liner carriers operating in this market.
   Matson Navigation and Horizon Lines have agreed to expand their services in this market to include drayage and door-to-door service for containerized military shipments. The U.S. Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (formerly the Military Traffic Management Command) negotiated the additional services with the carriers.
   “There was an urgent need to unclog the distribution pipeline for containers being shipped to our military customers in Hawaii,” said Col. Tom Harvey, commander of the 599th Transportation Group. “We can’t afford to put up with poor container management that often results in wasteful detention fees and lesser service to our customers.”
   Under the new arrangement, Matson and Horizon subcontracts the trucking company that will deliver the containers from the port to the customer. A customer, such as the Navy Exchange, will deal directly with the ocean carriers by accessing an automated system owned by the Navy’s Fleet and Industrial Supply Center in Pearl Harbor. The Web-based technology, called the Container Routing Information System, provides distribution managers with timely information for both full and empty containers, the SDDC said.
   Executives from both Matson and Horizon embraced the new service.
   “This provides us the opportunity to gain better control of the movement of our containers and our equipment,” said Charlie Battiato, Horizon’s strategic account director, in a statement.
   “Under the old arrangement, we had no visibility of our containers once they left the pier,” added Vic Angoco, manager of container operations for Matson.