COURTESY MATSON
Matson’s newest vessel, the Lurline, was launched Saturday into San Diego Bay. It is expected to begin cargo service to Hawaii in November.
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The Lurline is slated
to soon again deliver cargo to Hawaii following the christening Saturday of the sixth Matson ship to have the name.
Workers launched the 870-foot-long Lurline into San Diego Bay from a
General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in California where the roughly $250 million ship was built for
Hawaii’s largest ocean cargo transportation firm.
Matson’s first Lurline sailed to Hilo from San
Francisco in 1887 under Capt. William Matson, for whom Matson Inc. is named. Several other
Matson ships, including
a passenger liner, were given the Lurline name,
the most recent being a cargo vessel that was built in 1973 and retired several years ago.
The new Lurline can carry the equivalent of 3,200 20-foot shipping
containers plus about
500 vehicles in an enclosed garage.
Matson said the Lurline
is the largest container/
rolling-cargo ship ever
built in the United States.
Following testing and other work, the Lurline is expected to begin service in early November.
The Lurline is the third of four new ships ordered by Matson in recent years. The first ship, the Daniel K.
Inouye, was finished last year, followed by the Kaimana Hila earlier this year. The Matsonia, which also recycles a popular Matson ship name, is scheduled to be finished next year.
