News Updates

DHX - Dependable Hawaiian Express

7/1/2024

NEWS UPDATE

Dear Valued Customer,

We are providing the following updates for your information:

Holiday Schedules

The offices and terminals listed below will be closed for the holiday as follows:

Please remember that certain offices are across the International Dateline. The dates above are their dates, not the actual U.S. date.

Fourth of July Holiday Cutoffs

DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express – Southern California:

*Hazardous freight received Tuesday, July 2nd, and Wednesday, July 3rd, is not guaranteed to move on the Friday, July 5th sail. Hazardous freight received on Friday, July 5th, will be rolled to the Wednesday, July 10th sail.

DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express – Northern California:

DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express – Seattle:

Fourth of July Holiday Vessel Schedules 

We have been advised by Matson Navigation Company (“Matson”) that their Hawaii and Guam service port facilities will observe the Fourth of July holiday on Thursday, July 4, with hours of operation as follows: 

All vessels will maintain regularly scheduled departure and arrival times, except for the Mokihana 472W, which will depart Oakland on Wednesday, July 3.

As in years past, mainland ports will observe the ILWU Holiday “Bloody Thursday” on July 5, which falls on a Friday this year. Hawaii and Guam terminals will operate normal gate hours on Friday, July 5.

Pacific Tariff Restructuring effective June 30, 2024

As a reminder, we have been advised by Matson that they will significantly restructure their tariffs for Hawaii, Guam, and Micronesia, and Pasha Hawaii will restructure their tariffs for Hawaii. The intent is to improve consistency in the application and administration of surcharges and restore the historical balance of their ocean Fuel Surcharge (FSC).  

These changes will involve how they bill their Wharfage and the harbor use fee levied by the Hawaii State Department of Transportation - Harbors Division to help fund harbor initiatives, including the ongoing development of Honolulu’s primary container terminals. These changes will include a significant reduction to their ocean-related FSC to bring it more in line with historical levels, and proportional adjustments to the base Ocean Freight rates. 

Most importantly, these changes will not result in any change to your current total cost. Here's how it breaks down:

Hawaii Wharfage 

Wharfage is intended to be a pass-through charge, but historically, the fee has been embedded in their Ocean Freight rate. When the State Wharfage fee changes - annually on July 1 - these ocean rates had been adjusted to reflect the amount of the related fee change. 

Effective with this change, Matson will begin breaking out the Wharfage fee as a separate line item in all tariffs, simplifying their tariff structure and administrative processes while also making this fee more transparent. As a result, the ocean freight rate will be reduced accordingly, again ensuring no impact on our customers' total cost. 

Fuel Surcharge (FSC) 

In compliance with the increasingly stringent global environmental regulations that have impacted fuel costs, Hawaii Ocean Carriers are now using liquified natural gas (LNG), a leading “bridge fuel” that produces lower engine exhaust emissions compared to traditional marine fuels. The Hawaii Ocean Carriers have also begun using biofuel as part of their decarbonization strategy. LNG and biofuel are more expensive than conventional, less environmentally friendly fuel types. 

Accordingly, they are restructuring their FSC at a lower level to restore balance in the proportional relationship between their FSC and base ocean rate—with no monetary impact on our customers. 

Effective Sunday, June 30, 2024, the ocean FSC for Hawaii and Guam shipments will be reduced by 50%. As a result, the new Hawaii FSC will be 22.0%, and the new FSC for Guam will be 23.0%. Effective Sunday, July 14, 2024, Micronesia will be reduced by 50%, and the new FSC will be 23.0%. 

They will simultaneously raise base ocean rates by the same dollar amount and separate the Hawaii wharfage fee, while ensuring no impact on our customer’s total cost.

These unprecedented changes will require updating of both LCL and FCL rate structures. The result will be the same as the current cost. 

Annual Hawaii Wharfage & Port Security Fee Effective July 1, 2024

As a reminder, the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, in connection with the Harbors Division’s financing plan for its Harbors Modernization Program, announced they will implement an increase of 3.9% to the wharfage and port security fees, effective July 1, 2024. To mirror these State fee increases, the ocean carriers will increase their related charges by the identical amounts on July 1, 2024.

DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express will pass through these State fees for shipments sailing on and after Saturday, July 1, 2024. Although the State is increasing these fees by 3.9%, we will be increasing our less-than-container loads (LCL) wharfage fees by $.01 per cubic foot for all islands, which amounts to less than a 2% increase on wharfage. For full container loads (FCL), costs will be passed through at cost.

We will pass on at cost the Port Facility Security Fee increase for FCL at $25.11 for Oahu and $37.68 for Outer Island shipments sailing on and after Saturday, July 1, 2024. For LCL, there will be an increase of $.01 per cubic foot for the Outer Islands only. As we have done for the past three years, we will again absorb the increase for LCL to Oahu.

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https://www.trustpilot.com/review/dhx.com

Should you have additional questions, please contact your local office or our Corporate Customer Service Center at 800.488.4888, Ext. 2020, or email us at custserv@dhx.com.

Thank you for your business - we appreciate it!