The 16th annual award—themed the “Best of the Best”—was presented to Matson’s President and CEO James Andrasick.
“GM is proud to honor Matson as a GM Supplier of the Year winner,” said Bo Anderson, GM group vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “This award is our way of telling the winners that we appreciate all of their efforts in working together with GM to manufacture world-class vehicles. “Matson is among the best of the best,” he continued. “They understand that our mutual success can only be achieved by sharing common goals and priorities.”
Matson CEO Andrasick said, “Matson is truly honored to receive this award for the second consecutive year from one of our most valued customers. Since 1999, Matson has carried 100% of GM’s vehicles from the US mainland to Hawaii and Guam, as well as vehicles returning to the mainland under GM’s Remarketing program. Matson has worked closely with GM over the past eight years to continuously improve the transportation and distribution strategy for the Hawaii and Guam markets.”
Recent enhancements to Matson’s auto carriage service include the re-entry of the MV Mokihana following modification work that involved adding a new auto garage. The new design increased Matson’sHawaii roll on–roll off (“ro-ro”) capacity by over 30,000 autos per year and features a fully enclosed garage. The fleet enhancement is part of a multi-phase program commenced in 2003 that provides Matson’s auto customers two essential service features: frequency of service and ro-ro capacity. In addition to the modifications to the Mokihana, Matson has also invested in an above-deck garage for its S.S. Lurline, made shoreside facility improvements and developed a new information technology platform for auto shipments.
