Ex Matson chief launches new shipping company

The former head of Matson Navigation Company, C. Bradley Mulholland, is involved in the launch of a new shipping company in the Hawaiian islands that will undercut shipping prices by 12%. He will be president and chief executive officer of OceanBlue Express which is the creation of Norwegian industrialist Kjell Inge Rokke. Reports say the Honolulu ? US West Coast service is set to begin in August

The new company will get its ships from the Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard, which has two 2,600 TEU container ships under construction similar to the pair Matson recently purchased from the same yard.

It is expected that Matson, Hawaii’s largest trans-Pacific shipper, will aggressively defend its market share and customer base. Mulholland retired in January last year after 38 years at Matson.