[050313.EN.SEA] Matson To Acquire Reef Shipping Assets To Grow In South Pacific

MATSON, a US carrier in the Pacific, has signed an agreement to buy the old assets of Reef Shipping, a South Pacific shipping company based in Auckland.

The assets include four vessels and 1,500 pieces of container equipment. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed and the closing of the transaction is expected to occur by year-end, according to PRNewswire.

 "With this acquisition, Matson continues to expand its geographic reach into the South Pacific," said Matson president and CEO Matt Cox. "While the purchase itself is relatively small, it complements our growing network of Pacific island services."

After this acquisition, the company will continue to provide service to Reef's historical core trade lanes from Auckland and Fiji to the island nations of Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, Vanuatu, Tarawa and Majuro, which will all be new markets for the buyer.

Matson provided freight services in the South Pacific between 1920 and 1970. Nowadays, in addition to the Hawaiian Islands, which it has been serving since 1882, its Pacific island services cover Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands, Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Source : SN-TR, 28.02.13.