Alexander & Baldwin Inc has formed a new subsidiary, Matson Global Distribution Services, to expand its logistics service menu to include warehousing and distribution, freight forwarding, and non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) services.
Matson Global will be headed by 26-year industry veteran Brian Howver, formerly of NFI Industries. Howver will report directly to Matson Integrated Logistics (MIL) president Robert “Bob” C Papworth and will initially focus on warehousing opportunities on the West Coast.
The formation of Matson Global represents a natural, strategic extension of MIL. In the past four years, MIL has grown its operating profits from $3 million to nearly $21 million.
In other news, subsidiary Matson Navigation Co is celebrating 125 years of Pacific shipping. The company was launched April 10, 1882, when Captain William Matson sailed his three-masted schooner Emma Claudina from San Francisco Bay to Hilo HI carrying 300 tons of food, plantation supplies, and general merchandise. That voyage launched a company that has been involved in such diversified interests as oil exploration, hotels, tourism, military service during two world wars and even briefly, the airline business. Throughout its history, Matson has served Hawaii continuously and remains the state’s leading ocean carrier.
