If you live on Maui, the Big Island or Kauai, your car doesn't sail straight home. It goes to Honolulu first, then over on a barge. Over five years that route has gotten a lot more expensive.
I pulled the freight charge Matson printed on every bill of lading for the cars I booked from September 2021 to September 2026. Prices to the neighbor islands went up three times, and coming back went up twice. They never came back down.
Each step is dated by my first booking at the new price. The 2022 mainland-to-island step is shown at July 1 because both prices showed up on bills I booked from February to June. Rounded to the nearest $10.
Three increases in five years
Mainland to a neighbor island: $1,600, then $2,000 in mid-2022, $2,200 in April 2023 and $2,400 in June 2026. That's 50% more.
Neighbor island back to the mainland: $1,190, then $1,790 in June 2022 and $1,990 in April 2023. That's 67% more, and it hasn't moved since.
Kahului, Hilo and Nawiliwili went up together every time, so I show them as one.
| Route | Sept 2021 | July 2022 | May 2023 | Sept 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mainland → Kahului, Hilo or Nawiliwili | $1,600 | $2,000 | $2,200 | $2,400 | +50% |
| Kahului, Hilo or Nawiliwili → mainland | $1,190 | $1,790 | $1,990 | $1,990 | +67% |
What the neighbor islands pay over Honolulu
As of September 2026, the ocean freight on a car I book to a neighbor island is $820 more than one to Honolulu: $2,400 against $1,580. Both are what my customers pay Matson.
Leaving costs even more. It's $1,990 from a neighbor island to the mainland and $972 from Honolulu, a difference of $1,018.
It also takes longer. Matson adds a barge sailing on top of the ocean crossing for those three ports.
Electric cars went from 1 in 42 to zero
Matson stopped taking electric cars and plug-in hybrids in July 2025. Before that, 111 of the 4,695 cars I booked were ones I could identify as EVs or plug-ins. That's 2.4%, and the Tesla Model 3 was the most common. Since then, zero. Matson's policy still says the suspension stands.
The cars are getting older
In 2021 the typical car I shipped was 6 years old. This year it's 9. Cars 10 years or older went from 31% to 45%, and most of that jump happened this year.
That's my customers, not the whole state. I'm reporting what I see, not calling it a statewide trend.
How these numbers were produced
- Source: 7,049 Matson booking confirmations I received from September 16, 2021 to September 14, 2026, each with the bill of lading for a car I booked. Re-sent confirmations were merged by shipment number, leaving 5,124 shipments.
- Prices are the freight charge Matson printed on the bill for one car. No bill had separate "other charges." Fuel surcharges are inside the freight number, not broken out.
- I left out 370 shipments whose charges showed "Unavailable" and never got a final amount, plus five payment receipts with no route.
- Neighbor-island figures come from 1,134 priced shipments to or from Kahului, Hilo and Nawiliwili, which Matson routes through Honolulu with a barge. Figures are medians, rounded to the nearest $10.
- Each increase is dated by my first booking at the new price. One exception: from February to June 2022, mainland-to-island bills showed both $1,600 and $2,000, so that step is shown at July 1. Bookings come before sailing, so a new price can reach sailings days or weeks later.
- Honolulu comparisons use the Honolulu ocean freight my customers pay today, published on carshippinghawaii.com. Matson may quote the public a different rate if you book with them directly.
- I identified EVs and plug-ins by make and model, so 2.4% is a floor. Car age is booking year minus model year.
- These are the cars I booked, not every car shipped to or from Hawaii. The mix reflects my business.
Sources
Using this study
This study and its images are licensed CC BY 4.0: use any figure, chart or image with credit to Car Shipping Hawaii and a link to this page. Underlying counts, the exclusion list and lane-level tables are available to reporters on request.
Camilo Jaime, Founder, Car Shipping Hawaii · info@carshippinghawaii.com · (808) 378-7540