SeaRates added Matson container tracking in its week 37 release of 2020, published on 11 September, and gave it two sentences. Matson and Emkay Lines joined the tracker, which then supported 37 shipping lines. The post now redirects to the DP World homepage, so what follows rests on its saved text and on Matson’s own filings.
Two sentences is fair for a carrier of this profile. Matson reports Hawaii, Alaska, Guam and China as separate services, and the China one is the reason a tracker would care. For it, Matson quoted an expedited ten-day transit from Shanghai and next-day cargo availability at an off-dock facility in Long Beach.
What else was in that release
The tracking and schedule part of the release was mostly housekeeping. Developers had touched how the system worked with KMTC, Zim, Shipping Corporation of India, Wan Hai, Evergreen and COSCO, and the post did not say what changed. COSCO was updated with transshipment ports, ship names, dates and services. Pacific International Lines (PIL) was expected to be added to the schedule. The post promised 15 more shipping lines the following week.
For scale, Navo’s container tracking covers 231 carriers today, 198 of them through direct connectors. The 37 lines of 2020 and the 231 carriers of today may not be counted the same way.
What Matson’s China service looked like that autumn
The post gives no reason for picking Matson, and the evidence below is later than the release itself. It still shows what a tracker user would have been dealing with. Matson’s investor presentation of 18 November 2020 described two weekly services from Ningbo and Shanghai to Long Beach, the CLX, the established service, and the CLX+, started in May 2020. Matson pitched both as an alternative to deferred air freight and other ocean carriers.
The third-quarter results of 2 November 2020 put third-quarter China container volume at approximately 38,200 FEU against 17,000 a year earlier, up 124.7 percent, mainly from the CLX+ plus added capacity on the CLX. It also said it kept a rate premium.
A buyer who pays a premium for speed wants to see the last days. Whether the speed was delivered shows in the discharge event at Long Beach.
Six years on, the lane still swings
The boom did not hold. In the fourth quarter of 2022 China volume decreased 47.2 percent, which Matson put down to lower demand for the CLX and CLX+, the end of the CCX service in the third quarter and one week fewer. Q4 2023 China volume was up 23.3 percent. Third-quarter 2025 China volume fell 12.8 percent to 34,900 FEU from 40,000, which Matson tied to tariff uncertainty.
Then 2026. Matson’s second-quarter results of 3 August 2026 put China containers at 37,200 FEU against 32,300, up 15.2 percent. The comparison quarter included a Transpacific demand drop after the April 2025 tariffs, and Matson said its CLX and MAX services saw higher-than-expected freight rates and demand. In its November 2025 investor presentation the service started in May 2020 is called MAX, and the CLX is listed as started in February 2006.
One footnote deserves attention from anyone reading these numbers as a China figure. Matson says its China containers include containers from China and other Asia origins, and it says Southeast Asia is becoming a larger part of the weekly China service volume. So a Matson box on the water today may well have loaded at a Southeast Asian port, not in China.
Tracking a Matson box
For Matson container tracking, Navo’s Matson page takes a container number, a bill of lading or a booking reference and works out which one you pasted. Its timeline joins Matson’s own events, from gate out to discharge, with the vessel’s AIS position, so you see where the box is now, not where it was at the last port call. A single lookup needs no sign-up.
Emkay Lines, the other line added that week, is a Karachi-based NVOCC founded in 2008, according to Navo’s carrier directory, and its boxes usually move on another line’s vessel.
If a bill of lading returns nothing, the guide to which number to track with suggests trying the booking or container number instead.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SCAC code for Matson?
Navo's Matson page gives MATS as Matson's Standard Carrier Alpha Code and lists MATU as another code seen on its documents. It names MATS, MATU, CXCU, HRZU and RSLU among the prefixes on Matson boxes.
Which Matson events does Navo track?
Gate out, loaded, departed, transhipped and discharged. Navo's Matson page lists these five.
What is the SCAC code for Emkay Lines?
Navo's Emkay Lines page gives EMKU as the Standard Carrier Alpha Code.