Pasha Hawaii (Pasha) recently took over the ocean carriage and shipping from Horizon Lines (RIP) to/from the US Mainland and Hawaii. Pasha announced numerous changes to the ship to Hawaii sailing schedules and attempted to hit the ground running while reducing staff previously employed by Horizon Lines (Horizon) and not taking on all of Horizons systems.
We like Pasha and we like what they stand for – the American dream of a family-owned business making it big. We know they need to be successful in shipping. But thus far the sound of their boots hitting the ground are a distinctive thud.
Because of service interruptions and schedule changes made by Pasha, Matson Navigation Co. (Matson) has been plotting its own changing course in Hawaii delivery.
Matson has taken over the Alaska trade from Horizon, but Alaska is not known for many trade route shipping issues, and it’s not our core business like Hawaii. What DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express does know is that Matson has increased the number of vessels serving Hawaii, from nine to eleven, a 22% gain in capacity.
Matson now suffers from space issues in their Hawaii terminal, and chassis shortages in Hawaii. The two problems combined have limited Matson’s ability to get vessels into Hawaii because of too little space for their equipment. They are so cramped they have started giving Young Brothers outer island container loads so Matson is not using their terminal space to store outer island containers. Matson also did this so Matson could then get the chassis back to reuse in Matson’s own “container mounting on chassis” efforts.
This is lots of extra work to keep the propellers turning in a clogged sea of containers. It has turned into quite a quagmire for Pasha and for Matson. Matson certainly isn’t running like the Swiss railroad; they’re congested and their on-time performance is suffering. That said, Matson remains fluid and is taking a lot of steps to improve their timeliness.
DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express knows Pasha has also made numerous positive moves to shore up their service. The results are starting to show in a positive way.
For those of you watching the shipping and logistics industry, the issues should be short-lived. The folks at Matson will react and take necessary measures to keep merchandise flowing to Hawaii, albeit in the short term, with minor delays. Pasha too will rise to the occasion with the necessary corrections to ensure their new systems and operations function as they should.
We have lots of smart people in the ocean shipping business to Hawaii who are facing challenges in the next couple of months. We remain confident that all will be better by then.
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Friday, June 05, 2015
Welcome Aboard Pasha!
DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express just wants to say “Welcome aboard” to the new container shipping services that Pasha Group is bringing to the Hawaiian Islands.
It’s our perspective that Horizon Lines as a publicly-held company was desperately trying to increase their market share, however they did not understand the importance of making a profit for shareholders. It’s our genuine hope that Pasha Group will help stabilize and bring sensibility to the shipping trade to Hawaii regarding pricing and long-term survival.
Our fingers are crossed that Pasha Group did not pick up the “bad apples” Horizon Lines had accumulated in management along the way. With that management group in place and sales and pricing suspect, Horizon Lines could not make a profit and eventually went out of business. No one should subject themselves to an unstable, unprofitable model with the potential to afflict themselves with the same infection.
That being said, best of luck to you, Pasha Group!
We believe that you coming to Hawaii is a very positive development for all!
It’s our perspective that Horizon Lines as a publicly-held company was desperately trying to increase their market share, however they did not understand the importance of making a profit for shareholders. It’s our genuine hope that Pasha Group will help stabilize and bring sensibility to the shipping trade to Hawaii regarding pricing and long-term survival.
Our fingers are crossed that Pasha Group did not pick up the “bad apples” Horizon Lines had accumulated in management along the way. With that management group in place and sales and pricing suspect, Horizon Lines could not make a profit and eventually went out of business. No one should subject themselves to an unstable, unprofitable model with the potential to afflict themselves with the same infection.
That being said, best of luck to you, Pasha Group!
We believe that you coming to Hawaii is a very positive development for all!
Friday, February 06, 2015
At Time of Crisis, Remain Calm
Some customers and employees have asked what our plan is with respect to the current West Coast Owner/Longshoreman Contract dispute. Honestly the plan is not to panic. There is currently a slow down by labor and a reduction in working hours by the owners who are represented by a group called the PMA. Between the PMA and Longshoremen, there is a good chance there will either be a lockout or a strike within the next few weeks. This is actually good for the West Coast ports and their constituents like us because it will cause the government to invoke the Taft Hartley Act. This will then enforce a 90 day cooling off period, forcing both labor and owners back to work in earnest without all the public manipulation and bad faith bargaining that is making it feel to those negotiating like salt being rubbed into a wound.
Given constraints, we have done our best to minimize delays in every possible way (at great cost and expense) while trying to maintain the service our customers have grown to expect and deserve from us. Our normal two-hour turnarounds at the harbor have become 7-8 hour turns, sometimes with no results.
Communication of sailing schedules, which under current circumstances changes multiple times, has resulted in customers receiving 6-7 emails regarding the actual sailing of a single shipment – the time we have invested in trying to communicate these changes is huge. We have pondered moving our International Operations to the East Coast but until a couple weeks ago, the delays had not been insurmountable so as of now, we have not proceeded in that manner. The PMA understands that these types of delays make no sense, and hence have now ratcheted up the heat with the public, forcing a lockout or strike soon and inevitably the invocation of Taft Hartley.
Our plan:
Given constraints, we have done our best to minimize delays in every possible way (at great cost and expense) while trying to maintain the service our customers have grown to expect and deserve from us. Our normal two-hour turnarounds at the harbor have become 7-8 hour turns, sometimes with no results.
Communication of sailing schedules, which under current circumstances changes multiple times, has resulted in customers receiving 6-7 emails regarding the actual sailing of a single shipment – the time we have invested in trying to communicate these changes is huge. We have pondered moving our International Operations to the East Coast but until a couple weeks ago, the delays had not been insurmountable so as of now, we have not proceeded in that manner. The PMA understands that these types of delays make no sense, and hence have now ratcheted up the heat with the public, forcing a lockout or strike soon and inevitably the invocation of Taft Hartley.
Our plan:
- Continue business as usual, do not panic.
- Continue to communicate with our Customers any delays affecting their shipments.
- Continue to offer airfreight through DGX-Dependable Global Express for those who must have deadlines met.
- At the current moment, because so many have tried to move their product off the East Coast or to the East Coast (with a longer transit time) those ports are buried. We are not currently looking at that as a viable alternative. If the Taft Hartley cooling off period does not allow the situation, be it a lock out or strike, to end prior to a month before the cooling off period is over, then we will consider moving to East Coast operations for International shipments.
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