Matthew J. Cox To Be Presented with Connie Award in Long Beach on October 2

LONG BEACH, CA (July 31, 2012) ---Matthew J. Cox, President and Chief Executive Officer of Matson Navigation Co., acknowledged as one of the pioneering ocean carriers in containerization, will be presented with the prestigious Connie Award by the Containerization & Intermodal Institute (CII) at an industry-wide dinner to be held Tuesday, October 2 at the Renaissance Hotel.

Connie recipients are acknowledged with this prominent award for their significant influence on containerization in world trade and transportation. CII, founded in 1960, has been presenting the Connie Award since 1972 and it has become the most coveted honor in the field of containerization and its ancillary industries. Mr. Cox is the second Matson executive to receive this honor, following the late Robert J. Pfeiffer, former Chairman and President, who received a Connie in 1980.

Mr. Cox has been President of Matson since 2008. He also became CEO as the company separated from its parent, Alexander & Baldwin, in June. He now oversees the stand-alone, publicly traded company on the NYSE under the ticker MATX. The company was founded 130 years ago as an ocean carrier bringing goods from the U.S. Pacific Coast mainland to Hawaii. Over the years Matson grew into tourism, wartime service and ancillary industries.

On August 31, 1958, Matson's S.S. Hawaiian Merchant departed San Francisco Bay carrying 20 24-foot containers on deck, an historic voyage that marked the beginning of an ambitious containerization program. Matson's containerization program for Hawaii was the product of its in-house research department, which was established in 1956 and was the first of its kind in the industry. It was a tremendous program, perhaps one of the most significant ever undertaken by an ocean carrier.

Concurrently, shoreside innovations were introduced, including the world's first A-frame gantry crane, which was erected in 1959 in Alameda, California and became the prototype for container cranes. In addition, Matson introduced the first transtainer by Paceco and the first straddle carrier in the world by Clark Ross---both developed to meet Matson specifications.

Mr. Cox has embraced leadership of this innovative company during challenging times for our industry, said Allen Clifford, CII President. His success in maintaining and growing Matson's presence in various trades is to be admired.

With nearly 25 years of experience in the transportation industry, Mr. Cox has been on Matson's executive management team since joining the company in 2001 as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In 2005, he became the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and has since been promoted to his current positions.

Prior to Matson, Mr. Cox spent 12 years with American President Lines, Ltd. (APL) from 1987 to 1999. From 1999 to 2001, he held executive posts at Distribution Dynamics, Inc., a provider of outsourced logistics, inventory management and integrated information systems based in Danville, California.

In 2006, Mr. Cox had a key role in the start up of Matson's China - Long Beach Express service. In addition to his Matson responsibilities, Mr. Cox is also a member of the board of managers of SSAT, a stevedoring joint venture, and is on the board of the Pacific Maritime Association.

In addition to the Connie Awards, CII will carry out its industry education mission by presenting scholarships to students studying logistics. Any company can sponsor a named scholarship through CII, which has had more than half a million dollars given for higher education under its auspices since 1992.

The CII Connie Awards dinner is $225 per ticket and seating is limited. Sponsors for scholarship opportunities and tickets are available. For more information, contact Barbara Yeninas, Executive Director, at (732) 817-9131 or connie@containerization.org

About CII

Containerization & Intermodal Institute (CII), a non-profit organization founded in 1960, promotes industry awareness, preserves the history of intermodalism, and engages scholarly interest in the field by organizing educational conferences and seminars, serving as an information resource, providing networking opportunities, offering career guidance, arranging internships and facilitating scholarships. For more information, visit www.containerization.org