Matson exploring second Chinese route

Matson exploring second Chinese route Senior officials at Oakland-based Matson Navigation Co. report the domestic ocean carrier is “actively exploring opportunities” for a second route to China.
   The overtures come on the heels of last year's $365 million investment by the firm in vessels, containers and terminal assets to return to the Asia-America market. The now 15-month-old China/U.S. route, coming almost 40 years after the firm's failed first foray into the international transpacific market in the late 1960s, calls Ningbo and Shanghai as well as Long Beach, Calif.
   Accounting for 50,000 containers a year and with its revenue accounting for 15 percent of Matson's business turnover, the new route “exceeded our expectations”, company chair Allen Donae told China Daily.
   James Andrasick, Matson’s president and chief executive officer, told China Daily that despite the success of the China route, an additional route to the booming Asian country is for now just “part of our strategic planning,” with no specific route chosen.
   Still, Donae told the English language Chinese paper, routes between the two countries possess enormous potential and one the firm plans to build on. He pointed to the recent offering by the firm of “Guaranteed Expedited Service” on the existing China/U.S. route, which offers compensation to customers if cargo is not delivered when promised.
   And, while the firm may be looking at additional routes, it has no firm to take the tack of other shipping lines and invest in Chinese-based operations. “We are a relatively smaller player in the Chinese market and we don’t want to run before we can walk,” Andrasick told China Daily.