While electric vehicles are becoming less attractive to own in Hawaii, availability isn’t expected to decline due to a recent pause by one company bringing new EVs into the state by ship.
The Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association anticipates no negative supply impacts on new EVs locally from a decision in July by Matson Inc. to temporarily cease transporting EVs on its fleet of ocean cargo vessels.
Matson, the largest ocean cargo transportation firm serving the state, on July 14 notified customers that it immediately would no longer carry new or used EVs or plug-in hybrid vehicles on its ships due to “increasing concern” for the safety of transporting vehicles powered by large lithium-ion batteries.
The Honolulu-based company, which transported 30,400 automobiles last year in trade lanes serving Hawaii, declined to say how many EVs were part of that total or how many it carried earlier this year.
Melissa Pavlicek, executive director of HADA, said EVs are still being delivered to Hawaii on other carriers from Asia, the mainland and elsewhere.
“Matson was not the only one,” she said.
Pavlicek said the trade association representing Hawaii car dealers is monitoring the situation, and that currently no negative impacts on Hawaii’s supply of EVs or plug-in hybrid vehicles is anticipated from Matson’s move.
Pasha Hawaii, a Matson rival serving Hawaii from two California ports, continues to transport EVs.
The company said in a statement that it continues to be a “vital link” for auto manufacturers, auto dealerships and vehicle owners statewide.
On its website, Pasha states that EVs must be tendered with no more than a 30% battery charge, and set to a power save or shipping mode if available. Pasha also charges an extra $275 for EVs and plug-in hybrids.
California-based Pasha began competing with Matson in 2005 when it put into service its then-new ship, the MV Jean Anne, which was built to carry more than 3,000 midsized automobiles that can be driven on and off the vessel. Pasha since then has added several more ships to its Hawaii service.
Matson, in its letter to customers, said it continues to support industry efforts to develop comprehensive standards and procedures to address fire risk posed by lithium-ion batteries at sea, and plans to resume carrying EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles “when appropriate safety solutions that meet our requirements can be implemented.”
Keoni Wagner, a Matson spokesperson, said on Tuesday that there was nothing new to add since the announcement.
EVs have been shipped to Hawaii for more than a decade, and HADA reported that they represented 14.7% of all new vehicle registrations during the first half of this year.
There have been disastrous fires in recent years on ships carrying EVs where EV batteries were the suspected source of a fire or a fuel source that made fires worse.
After a ship built to carry about 4,000 cars, the Felicity Ace, burned and sank in 2022 during a voyage from Germany to the United States, Matson announced that it had established lithium battery safety guidelines, an electric vehicle safe carriage working group, and practices to reduce risk that included use of thermal imaging cameras to see temperature spikes and a tool that takes nine seconds to drill a hole into a shipping container and begin flooding it with water.
Shipping industry publication The Maritime Executive reported last year that Mitsui OSK Lines, which operated the Felicity Ace, contended in two lawsuits with an insurer that Volkswagen Group was responsible for the fire allegedly originating from the lithium-ion battery of a Porsche.
Maritime Executive in July reported that there have been at least two more major vessel casualties linked to EV fires since then, the Fremantle Highway in 2023 in the North Sea and the Morning Midas in June during a trip from China to Mexico.
“The industry has worked to develop new standards for the transport of EVs and lithium-ion batteries, but in Matson’s case, it has the added danger of container fires because it transports cars placed into boxes, limiting the ability to monitor the vehicles versus car carriers, where they are loaded in large garage-type spaces,” the Maritime Executive report said.
Hawaii EV, the local chapter of the national nonprofit Electric Vehicle Association, claimed in a recent blog that shipping EVs can be done safely with available precautions.
“The recent decision to restrict EV shipments to Hawaii due to perceived fire risks is understandable but we are hopeful that Matson will promptly deploy necessary safety measures so that they may resume shipping,” the organization said.
Source: The Garden Island
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