U.S.-headquartered transportation and logistics company Matson and shipbuilder Hanwha Philly Shipyard, a wholly-owned arm of South Korea’s Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Ocean, have marked a construction milestone of the first of three new future-fit Aloha Class container vessels.
As disclosed, on August 4, the first engine room section of the ship, weighing 420 metric tons, was lowered into the dry dock, signalling the formal commencement of hull assembly.
The 260.29-meter-long Aloha Class units will all boast a carrying capacity of 3,600 TEU. More importantly, as officials from Matson have highlighted, the boxships are set to feature what is described as a ‘more fuel-efficient’ hull design, with dual-fuel engines that will enable operations using liquefied natural gas (LNG) from delivery.
Once construction is wrapped up, the newbuild trio, which will reportedly replace three existing vessels, is due to be handed over to Matson in 2027 and 2028. As informed, the company intends to deploy the new units in its Hawaii, Guam, and China-Long Beach Express (CLX) services.
According to the U.S.-based shipping player, the containerships are going to be christened Makua, Malama, and Makena, in reference to three freighters deployed in the WWI era.
The newbuildings are not the first batch that Matson has commissioned Philly Shipyard—which was acquired by the South Korean vessel construction heavyweight in June 2024—to build. At the beginning of October last year, Matson marked the beginning of the construction of another three boxships , also boasting dual-fuel LNG capabilities.
Identical to the Makua, Malama and Makena, the trio is to replace existing ships on the same service, but with turnover dates marked for the last quarter of 2026 and sometime in 2027. As Offshore Energy reported at the time, the units are planned to match the size and speed of two of Matson’s Aloha Class vessels, Daniel K. Inouye , and Kaimana Hila, hailed as the “biggest containerships ever constructed in the U.S .”
In May 2025, it was revealed that the units’ environmental performance would be ‘enhanced further’, with Norwegian marine energy storage company Corvus Energy clinching a contract to supply its energy storage systems (ESS) to be fitted onto the container vessels.
Previously, Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime had been commissioned to provide hybrid electrical systems, including a shaft generator and a battery energy-saving solution combined with a complete power management system.
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