Pasha Hawaii’s new ship beginning service between West Coast, Hawaii

The container/ro-ro ship has arrived in San Diego in advance of first voyage.    Pasha Hawaii said Thursday its new vessel, the container and roll-on/roll-off (ConRo) ship Marjorie C, has arrived in San Diego and will begin service to Hawaii.
   The ConRo ship “represents a total $200 million commitment from the company into the Jones Act trade,” Pasha said in a statement.
   “After more than three and a half years of planning and construction, we are pleased to unveil a ship that has been designed to not only accommodate the varying needs of our customers, but a vessel that minimizes our carbon footprint through extensive fuel consumption efficiencies and other green technologies,” said George Pasha IV, the company’s president and chief executive officer. The ship is named after his grandmother, Marjorie Catherine Ryan Pasha.
   He said the ship will “offer customers increased service and capacity between the West Coast and Hawaii trade lane on vessels providing superior reliability and cargo protection.”
   The 692-foot Marjorie C has a 350 metric-ton ramp, the capacity to carry 1,400 TEUs, and can transport up to 1,100 vehicles and accommodate all sizes and types of containers and rolling cargo. The ship also has onboard cranes, allowing it to load and discharge containers at ports and terminals without onshore gantry cranes.
   The new ship is expected to sail Friday evening to Honolulu and discharge cargo on Wednesday and Thursday.
   It is the second ship built for Pasha Hawaii at the VT Halter Marine yard in Pascagoula, Miss. After construction was completed, the ship’s hull was painted at the BAE shipyard in Mobile, and the ship loaded 385 pieces of large diameter pipe bound for Hawaii. It sailed through the Panama Canal and arrived in San Diego Friday morning, where it docked at Pasha’s National City Marine Terminal and loaded about 85 40-foot containers, cars, and high and wide cargo including rolling stock and mobile homes.
   Pasha first entered the Hawaii trade in 2005 with the ro/ro ship Jean Anne. That ship is expected to arrive in San Francisco on Friday for regular maintenance that will be performed at the BAE drydock near the San Francisco Giant’s AT&T Park.
   Pasha said the original plan was for the Marjorie C. and Jean Anne to operate in tandem to offer a weekly service between San Diego, Los Angeles and Honolulu.
   With the agreement for Pasha to take over the Hawaii service of Horizon Lines – a deal the two companies plan to conclude by the end of the second quarter – Pasha is still working out final deployment plans.
   Temporarily, the Marjorie C will replace the Jeanne Anne for two voyages while the latter is in drydock. The long term deployment has not yet been determined, but the new ship might be used to replace one of the four Horizon containerships.
   Pasha Hawaii is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pasha Group, a family-owned global logistics and transportation company.