Ocean carriers serving Hawaii resumed full cargo operations following the Hawaii State Department of Transportation’s reopening of Hawaii island ports to commercial operations on Friday and Oahu, Maui, and Kauai ports on Saturday morning.

Matson Navigation continued to sail its vessel schedule between the West Coast and Hawaii as normal throughout preparations for Hurricane Lane in an effort to position cargo for distribution as soon as possible following the reopening of Hawaii ports. Matson resumed service to Hawaii Saturday morning, when its barge Columbia arrived at Hilo with 117 containers and terminal staff began making the cargo available to Big Island customers. Matson’s barge Haleakala docked at Kahului at noon today, making 87 loaded containers available to Maui customers. Matson’s vessel Mahimahi returned to Honolulu at 11:00 AM Saturday, two hours after the port reopened, to discharge the balance of its cargo, 615 containers, having already delivered 537 containers before the port closed on August 23.

The Honolulu -based Pasha Hawaii resumed operations at Pier 51 on Saturday, with the arrival of the containership Horizon Pacific. The vessel was the first to arrive in Honolulu Harbor after Pasha Hawaii received an all clear to resume cargo operations from the US Coast Guard and Hawaii Department of Transportation, following the passage of Hurricane Lane over the Hawaiian Islands.

On Wednesday, August 22, the US Coast Guard granted temporary approval for Horizon Pacific to dock at Pier 51, allowing limited discharge of the ship’s cargo. The partial discharge was done to expedite cargo availability and delivery once the storm passed. Since Wednesday, Horizon Pacific has remained offshore in a safe location, minimizing the vessel’s return time to Honolulu Harbor. After the remaining containers have been offloaded, customer pickup and delivery resumed on Sunday.

The quick response of the US Coast Guard and Hawaii Department of Transportation “has ensured the flow of goods can continue with minimal delay,” said George Pasha, IV, president and CEO of Pasha Hawaii.

Following Horizon Pacific’s offload, the vessel returned to the West Coast, and the Horizon Reliance docked on Sunday at Pier 51. Pasha Hawaii’s roll-on/roll-off vessel M/V Jean Anne will pull into Pier 1 on Monday, before proceeding to Kahului and Hilo on Wednesday, while the Horizon Enterprise is scheduled to arrive at Pier 51 on Wednesday.

Matson is activating Consumer, one of four containerships in its reserve fleet, to provide additional capacity to support Hawaii’s recovery and help restore its normal service schedule as quickly as possible. On Saturday the company implemented a service recovery plan that has five of its container ships carrying a combined 3,500 loaded containers scheduled for discharge at its Honolulu hub terminal through Wednesday. Matson also dispatched its barge Waialeale from Honolulu to Nawiliwili with 60 containers aboard for Kauai customers arriving Sunday morning.