Matson... The lifeline between Hawaii and the US mainland, especially for shipping vehicles. Founded in 1882 by Swedish-born William Matson, its headquarters is currently in Honolulu, HI (formerly Oakland, CA). Obtaining a job as a stevedore with the company is almost akin to winning the lottery, LOL. Sadly, it's who you know like in most places. Overtime pay equals beaucoup bucks but the hours can be crazy. EXPERIENCE: We used them way back in the mid-90's to ship a vehicle from Maui to Arizona and back (via Long Beach, CA) for yours truly to drive while in school. Back then, you had the option of shipping your vehicle either inside a container or outside, the latter of course being cheaper. We went with the enclosed container which ran around $800-something one-way and kept the car much cleaner. Nowadays it's all enclosed and about double the price. The voyage took around five days or so each way, and the car arrived damage-free both times. Today, it's much easier to prepare yourself and your vehicle as everything is online. Some things didn't change, such as: 1) Gas level needs to be at ¼ tank or less. 2) Your vehicle must be emptied of loose items, legal and brought in clean in order for inspection to be done. And the "duh factor": Don't leave any valuables inside your vehicle! Signage at Kahului Harbor is poor compared to Long Beach, but due to its small size, it's quicker and easier to get in and out. The office was located inside of the big warehouse building at pier 1 but it could've changed since then. FUN FACT: Way back in the day, Matson briefly operated aircraft and passenger ships between Pacific locations/ports and the US west coast. OVERALL: It's either Matson or Pasha for your vehicle shipping needs. You decide. read more

After waiting 6 weeks with no notification about anything, I started receiving robo-letters this weeks telling me to "pick up my car ASAP because storage space is limited." Apparently they don't consider that some of their customers (that paid 2-3 thousand dollars for their service) are driving from Kona and can't just leave work and come pick up their car. Further, they're only open on days and during hours that are convenient for them, apparently, and YOU have to check and make arrangements around THEM to be able to pick up your own car. Seems as though the attitude is "now that we have your money, you work around us." read more

Well this is our second time to use Matson. We used a transport company to make arrangements because we are having the car transported to Tucson on arrival in LA via car carri We had some stress with paperwork, our car is paid off but I didn't update the registration when I did it. I had a copy of the car title, but they want a original. We are both on the title , both have to be present. Don t try to hide anything personal that was too big for your suit case. If they find it, they will discard it. Use usps for that stuff. Flat Rate. So it took us two days to get our documents in order, a full half day at Dmv. And Matson dock closes at three. And they have a lunch hour. Gotta plan. Be very aware you need to be clean, vac and no cracks anywhere. All reasons to send you away. And less than 1/4 tank. For us that's 2 gallons. Another reason to refuse your vehicle. Excess Fuel. It s about car weights. Go to the website to review important details,but this is everything I can think of. Oh , if you are early for your shipping day, you get a grace day, & the other days are dock storage. Mastercard Accepted. Hate to add a negative to a positive.. on car acceptance, we noticed the rear bumper, On a Prius this is a bodypart, was scuffed and cleaned. Since the transport driver didn't catch it, the responsibility moved to the transporter. The new inspection sticker from Maui was Scuffed. It had to be on the ship, only they would have a clean up kit. The solution also faded the new black and white sticker, only a week old. Now it s Gray. The damage only broke one tiny snap -in plastic tab. So it hangs low by a 1/2 inch. Looks like we will pay. New insurance on arrival in Tucson. So Damage was before the new insurance was in effect. Too bad he missed it but it was subtle. read more

Our vehicle was shipped from Maui to Washington... we appreciated being able to track our vehicles shipping/location we were pleased that it arrived as scheduled, safe and sound! The staff were friendly and professional! read more

I would like to send a HUGE and MANY MAHALOS to Donald and his team (Kiaka and Ross) at Kahului Harbor. They went above and beyond to help my family and I get our car out on the necessary barge we needed for our upcoming move. We would not have been able to do it without them and their kind and gracious hearts. We are forever grateful and blessed to see and feel the Aloha spirit with Donald and his team. read more

Decided to use this company based on the reviews I saw because other people were saying the customer service is good and if there's any damage during shipping then they'll do the right thing and handle the claim for you. WRONG! It difficult to get a hold of anyone. Even when I was setting up the initial booking to have my car shipped the people on the retail side weren't the best. Matson's timeline for getting my car to it's final destination was also wrong. They told me it would leave the port in LA a certain day but it actually ended up leaving earlier. Sounds good in theory. This disrupted my flight schedule and car rental. The logistics are super important in matters like this. I ended up having to reschedule my flight and pay for that. Overall, stay away. Communication was poor, customer service poor, professionalism poor, claims department is absolutely horrendous. read more

This guys are awesome , can't be more happier.. my truck arrived sooner, easy process and relaxing talks with personal, Edgar Jimenez is the guy you wanna talk to when shipping your car... Mahalo guys read more

Matson - Edgar Jimenez did this magic happen.. , truck arrived sooner, super happy , will definitely use them again - Shipping Centers Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

Definitely book DIRECT with Matson when shipping cars from Hawaii to Mainland! We booked through an outside company and they were terrible, both times that my husband and I had to drop off our cars there were details the third party company failed to mention, but the Matson guys took care of us and were super patient with everything we had to get done, giving us time to go to the DMV and wait for a notarize note (p.s. if all lien holders aren't present at the time you ship your car you NEED a notarized note from the other owner of the car!) once everything was processed, it was a super smooth transaction. They are great at their job and make it easy as long as you have everything you need prepared on your end (updated registration, title, and notarized letters, for example) The guys in the Kahului office really have the Aloha spirit - thank you so much for letting us hang out and talk story while we were waiting for things to get processed. Billy and Keaka, you guys are what Aloha is all about! read more

Poor Tracking, how difficult is it to track a car? Well, it was supposed to arrive 8 days ago and after receiving two later dates they are said late this week. I get a text on Monday AM saying car is ready to pick up. The people on the docks are great! read more

Matson is a great. I've shipped a few cars and moved my home between Hawaii and the mainland. I've never used any other shipping company, so there's nothing to compare with. I can tell you this... From the time you book it online, speak with a customer service rep on the he phone, check your vehicle in at the harbor, this is one organized well operated company. The staff are great and very knowledgeable in answering questions and giving thorough info and instructions. I'm so glad shipping big items whether it's household items or vehicles, there's a company we can all count on Great job Matson! read more

Janice Dettenber was all the difference at Matson. She came through and I appreciate her professionalism and ability to handle things fairly and timely. And I thank those in Matson management who helped get this resolved. We can get our chevelle back running by Friday looks like now. read more

Shipped my car to Maui. The morning we were arriving we called to confirm pick up and we were told it was ready for pick up. We arrived at the pick up gate at 11:30 am (exactly) and were not allowed to enter to get my car. We were strictly told to return at 1:00 pm. They would not let us enter and we had no where to go. No one told us we would be locked out during the day; not when we booked and not any of the times we had to call to check on the status as we were not ever provided any updates. Now we're stuck waiting, with no transportation. In a world with so many ways to communicate, Matson failed miserably! This, after being awake since 3 am. read more

I used Matson to ship my BMW X5 from Kahului, HI to Long Beach, CA. Just dropped it off yesterday so I can't comment on the pick-up end yet, but the drop-off was such a great experience! The guys were all super helpful and nice, the whole process only took about 10-15 minutes and we were out of there! Just some advice for those shipping a car out of Kahului: 1. Make sure you get a good car wash - I took mine to a car wash that did an exterior and interior clean for about $35 and it was so worth it. The inspection took about 5 minutes since the car was in clean condition (no dirt on wheel wells, no leaves etc.) 2. Take everything out of the car (I left my owner's manual in the glove compartment and that was it). If you have nothing in it, it makes the process WAY faster. 3. Have these documents ready when you go and it'll be a breeze *Vehicle Registration *Valid Drivers License *Title (if you don't have your title yet, you need to get a letter of authorization from the lien holder saying you can ship the car out of state. This was the only thing that caused a bit of confusion since I didn't get that letter until the day of, so if you are paying off the car on an auto loan make sure you call your bank a few days ahead of time) 4. Download the Matson app on the phone to track the shipment! Overall, I had a very pleasant and easy experience and would definitely recommend using them for anyone shipping off island! read more