The ships will be 260 meters long and capable of transporting 3.500 TEU. Construction will begin at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego in early 2018, with delivery dates set at 2019 and mid-2020. The route they will serve is from the US west coast to Hawaii.

Fred Harris, president of General Dynamics NASSCO and Bath Iron Works said: "We are very pleased to partner with Matson to build their next generation of shipping vessels, NASSCO has long played a leading role in revolutionizing the future of the American shipping industry. Our partnership with Matson builds upon NASSCO's successful track record of constructing high-quality, highly efficient and on-time delivery for the Jones Act trade."

Matt Cox, president and CEO of Matson said: "We are pleased to be working with NASSCO again on new vessels for Matson. NASSCO's deep history and reputation for quality give us confidence that these new ships will be the most advanced efficient and productive vessels in our fleet,". "Our last NASSCO vessel, RJ Pfeiffer, has been a mainstay of our Hawaii service and we look forward to adding the superior performance of these new Kanaloa Class vessels to the fleet."