Okay, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Matson Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded, and I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Lee Fishman. Lee, please go ahead.
Thank you, Cal. Joining me on the call today are Matt Cox, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Joel Wine, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Slides from this presentation are available for download at our website, www.matson.com, under the Investors tab. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that during the course of this call, we will make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws regarding expectations, predictions, projections, or future events. We believe that our expectations and assumptions are reasonable. We caution you to consider the risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements in the press release, the presentation slides, and this conference call.
These risk factors are described in our press release and presentation and are more fully detailed under the caption Risk Factors on pages 13-24 of our Form 10-K, filed on February 25th, 2022, and in our subsequent filings with the SEC. Please also note that the date of this conference call is November 2nd, 2022, and any forward-looking statements that we make today are based on assumptions as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. I'll now turn the call over to Matt.
Okay. Thanks, Lee, and thanks to those on the call. Starting on slide three. Matson's differentiated open ocean services third quarter. We achieved lower YoY consolidated operating income as we saw lower demand for expedited ocean services in the Transpacific trade lane compared to the high levels of freight demand during the pandemic in the year-ago period. Within ocean transportation, our CLX+, and CCX services achieved lower volumes, which contributed to the decline in both business segment and consolidated operating income. In our domestic trade lanes, we saw higher volume in Alaska and lower volumes in Hawaii, Guam, compared to the third quarter of last year. In logistics, the increase in operating income was due to strength across all of the lines of business as we continue to see favorable supply and demand fundamentals in our core markets.
Today, we announced that we signed approximately $1 billion in vessel construction agreements for three new LNG-ready Aloha Class vessels. These new vessels will be purpose-built for our CLX+, excuse me, our CLX service, and will bring meaningful additional capacity to the service and profitability to the company when the vessels are placed in service. Joel will go through the announcement in more detail later in the presentation. Please turn to slide four. I want to start off by providing our views on the current market environment across the Transpacific trade lane, domestic trade lanes, and logistics. After which, I'll go through the trade lane performance in the third quarter. In the third quarter, we saw lower demand for our expedited ocean services in the Transpacific trade lane.
With less demand and easing port congestion in Southern California, we ended the CCX service in early September, about six weeks earlier than we expected. As you may recall, we initiated this temporary premium service in August of last year to meet the then extraordinary levels of volume demand resulting from challenging supply chain and port conditions in Southern California by providing a first U.S. West Coast port call in Oakland, followed by a call in Long Beach. With the end of the CCX service, we moved our Kanaloa Class vessels back to the Hawaii service. On our second quarter earnings call, we indicated that we'd seen a gradual decline in Transpacific freight indices from the high expected earlier this year, and this likely signaled that rates had peaked. In the fourth quarter, we've continued to see freight rates in a transitional decline from the pandemic highs.
Looking forward, we currently expect the next two quarters to be challenging in this trade lane. On the demand side, we're seeing retailers adjust their inventories to current consumer demand levels. On the supply side, we've seen ocean liners reduce at least 10% of the vessel capacity in the trade lane, and we expect more reductions and schedule changes to meet the lower demand levels. Based on these factors, for the remainder of this year and into the first quarter of 2023, we expect to experience lower YoY freight volume and lower rate environment for our CLX and CLX+ services. However, we also expect to continue to earn a significant rate premium to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index as our CLX and CLX+ services provide value to our customers with their differentiated destination services, reliability, and fast speeds on the water.
The Matson brand was enhanced in the pandemic given the reliability of our services during a chaotic supply chain environment. Regardless of where we are in the cycle, we're well-positioned to help our customers with the fastest and the second fastest ocean services in the transpacific trade lane. Please turn to the next slide. Within our domestic trade lanes, we continue to see economic growth in Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam. In Hawaii, domestic tourism was strong in the first nine months of the year, and international tourist arrivals picked up a bit in this past quarter, but total arrivals are still below pre-pandemic highs. UHERO is projecting Hawaii visitor arrivals for 2022 to be 90% of the pre-pandemic high in 2019, increasing to 95% in 2023.
The strong recovery in Hawaii's tourism industry has led to a rapid decline in the unemployment rate, and the labor market remains tight. In Alaska, we continue to expect the Alaska economy to benefit from increased energy-related exploration and production activity as a result of elevated oil prices. Consumer demand continues to remain strong in the state, supported by a low unemployment rate, job growth, and wage growth. In September, the state announced a record Permanent Fund Dividend to residents, which is expected to lead to good consumption in the near term. In Guam, the economy continues to recover from the pandemic low despite the slow return of tourism. The unemployment rate continues to improve, and tourism has increased since the beginning of the year, but remains well below pre-pandemic levels. Excuse me.
We expect further improvement in tourism arrivals from Asia to support the local economy, but the timing remains unclear. While there are positive drivers supporting further growth in our core domestic markets, weakening economic conditions in the U.S. and global economies could negatively affect tourism and consumer spending. In addition, the combination of higher inflation, higher interest rates, and lower personal income with the end of the pandemic-era stimulus is likely having a negative impact on household income and consequently, consumer goods demand. In logistics, we continue to see a solid level of activity at Span Alaska, consistent with our Alaska trade lane business. Our transportation brokerage business has continued to perform above expectations, but is seeing softer freight volumes due to higher customer inventory levels, softness in truckload spot market rate, and other macroeconomic trends.
Lastly, our supply chain business is trending consistent with the demand for our China service. I'll now go through the third quarter performance of our trade lanes, SSAT, and logistics. Please turn to the next slide. Hawaii container volumes for the third quarter decreased 7.1% YoY, primarily due to lower retail-related demand. The YoY decline was impacted by the difficult comparison to the pandemic demand spike in the year ago period. Volume in the third quarter of 2022 was 2.7% higher than the volume achieved in 2019. The Hawaii economy continued to show growth in the quarter, supported by strong domestic tourist arrivals and unemployment rate that remained near the pandemic lows. Moving to our China service on slide seven.
Matson's volume in the third quarter of 2022 was 15.1% lower YoY due to lower demand for our CLX+, and CCX services and one less sailing. Matson continued to realize a significant rate premium over the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index in the third quarter of 2022 and achieved average rates that were higher than in the year-ago period. For the fourth quarter of 2022, we expect lower YoY volume. As I mentioned previously, we ended our temporary CCX service in early September, so there'll be no contribution from this service in the fourth quarter. Turning to slide eight. In Guam, Matson's container volume in the third quarter of 2022 decreased 1.8% YoY. The decrease was primarily due to lower retail-related demand.
Volume in the third quarter of 2022 was higher than the level achieved in the third quarter of 2019. Please turn to slide nine. In Alaska, Matson's container volume for the third quarter of 2022 increased 10.6% YoY. The increase was primarily due to higher export seafood volume from the AAX service, higher northbound volume due to higher retail-related demand and volume related to a competitor's dry docking, and higher southbound volume primarily due to higher domestic seafood volume. Turning next to slide ten. Our terminal joint venture, SSAT, contributed $23.4 million in the third quarter of 2022 compared to $13 million in the prior year period. The higher contribution was primarily a result of higher other terminal revenue. Turning now to logistics on slide eleven.
Operating income in the third quarter came in at $20.1 million or $4.1 million higher than the results in the year ago period. The increase was primarily due to higher contributions from all services as we continue to see favorable supply and demand fundamentals in our core markets. With that, I will turn the call over to Joel for a review of our financial performance.
Thanks, Matt. Please turn to slide 12 for review of our third quarter results. For the third quarter, consolidated operating income declined $42.6 million YoY to $335.3 million, with a lower contribution from ocean transportation of $46.7 million, partially offset by a $4.1 million increase from logistics. The decrease in ocean transportation operating income in the third quarter was primarily due to lower volume in China, higher operating costs and expenses, primarily in the CLX+ service and higher fuel related expenses, partially offset by a higher average freight rates in China and a higher contribution from SSAT. As Matt noted, the increase in logistics operating income was primarily due to higher contributions from all services.
We had interest income of $1.3 million in the quarter due to higher cash investment rates on our cash and cash equivalents as compared to no interest income in the prior year period. Interest expense increased $0.5 million from the second quarter result, primarily due to the premium paid and deferred fee write-off related to the prepayment of outstanding debt. Lastly, the effective tax rate in the quarter was 20.4% compared to 24.4% in the year ago period. Slide 13 shows how we allocated our trailing 12 months of cash flow generation.
For the LTM period ended September 30th, we generated cash flow from operations of approximately $1.5 billion, from which we used $116.4 million to retire debt, $179.1 million on maintenance and other CapEx, $26.8 million on new vessel CapEx, including capitalized interest and owners items, $565 million to deposit into the Capital Construction Fund, and $22.5 million on other cash outflows while returning $429 million to shareholders via dividends and share repurchase. Please turn to slide 14 for a summary of our share repurchase program and balance sheet. During the third quarter, we repurchased approximately 1.1 million shares for a total cost of $88.4 million. On August 23rd, we announced that we added an additional 3 million shares to the existing share repurchase program.
As of the end of the third quarter, there were approximately 3 million shares remaining in the repurchase program. Turning to our debt levels. Our total debt at the end of the quarter was $538.1 million. During the third quarter, we prepaid $50.4 million of outstanding principal on the 4.16% Prudential Series C-2 notes due 2027, and the 4.31% Prudential Series C-3 notes due 2032, which represented all the remaining principal outstanding for both notes. I'm now going to walk through our new vessel and LNG projects, so please turn to the next slide. Yesterday, we signed agreements with Philly Shipyard for the construction of three new LNG-ready Aloha Class vessels.
For a while now, we have talked about the two options for re-fleeting the Alaska vessels later this decade, and we have chosen to move forward with the three new vessels for the CLX service and to shift three existing CLX vessels into the Alaska service when the new vessels come into service. The new Aloha Class vessels will have dual-fuel engines and be LNG ready, meaning each vessel will come fully equipped with the tanks, piping, and cryogenic equipment to run on LNG upon delivery. The vessels will also be designed with other state-of-the-art green technology features and a fuel-efficient hull.
These new Aloha Class vessels allow us to upsize the CLX service by approximately 500 containers of capacity per vessel, and we expect this additional trade lane capacity to be a meaningful net income, operating income, and EBITDA contributor when the vessels are placed into service. We currently expect the vessels to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2026, the second quarter of 2027, and the fourth quarter of 2027. The total contract cost of the new vessel program is about $1 billion. We made our first milestone payment from the Capital Construction Fund of approximately $50 million upon signing the agreements yesterday. The table on the right-hand side of the slide shows the current expected schedule of milestone payments by year.
We are off to a great start in funding this new build program with over half of the project cost paid for with the $565 million deposit we made into the CCF fund in the third quarter. We expect the CCF deposit to lead to a significant refund of a portion of the approximately $242 million in cash taxes paid in 2021. Please now turn to slide 16. The three new Aloha Class vessels and these LNG projects are important steps towards achieving Matson's 2030 greenhouse gas emissions goal. As a reminder, our 2030 environmental stewardship goal is to reduce Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions from our owned fleet by 40% by 2030, using 2016 as a baseline year. The LNG installation projects on the Daniel K. Inouye
and the Maunakea remain on track for next year, with Daniel K. Inouye planned to enter a dry docking in the first quarter of 2023, and Maunakea planned to enter a dry docking in mid-year 2023. The current estimated cost to make Daniel K. Inouye LNG-ready is approximately $35 million. The current estimated cost to re-engine Maunakea with a dual-fuel LNG and conventional fuel engine is approximately $60 million. We have also made the decision to move forward with the LNG installation project on the Kaimana Hila. We currently estimate the cost for this project to be approximately $35 million and for the vessel to enter dry dock in the second quarter of 2024 for about five months of installation work.
We continue to evaluate LNG installations on the Lurline and Matsonia, although no decision has been made at this time. If we move forward, the LNG installations would be in 2024 and 2025 for a current estimated cost of approximately $85 million for both vessels. With that, I'll now turn the call back over to Matt.
Okay. Thanks, Joel. Please turn to slide 17, and I'll go through some closing thoughts. Matson's well-positioned to capitalize on future opportunities in ocean transportation and logistics, where we can leverage the Matson brand and our portfolio of essential high quality businesses. The Matson brand has never been better, and I'm confident we have the right assets and services to grow with our customers, support our customers in a high quality manner, and maintain vessel schedule integrity. Within the Transpacific trade lane, we expect our CLX and CLX + to continue to create value over the long term based on their fast speeds and unique destination services. We continue to expect the post-pandemic environment to be an evolving journey, and we will adapt like we've always done to support the lifeline communities we serve.
Furthermore, while there'll always be some degree of uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment, we will maintain our discipline and stick to our capital allocation strategy. We invest for the long term to create value for shareholders. In some cases, we're making capital investment decisions that span decades, like our new $1 billion build ship build program for the three new Aloha Class vessels that we expect will be with us for 40 years. We're always on the lookout for opportunities to extend the Matson brand and drive organic growth. As an example, we initiated the CLX + service during the pandemic off the success of our CLX service, which also helped drive additional opportunities for our logistics segment. We will look to acquire businesses as an extension of the great collection of assets we have today.
We want to ensure that any business we acquire complements one or more of our existing businesses, provides a unique or differentiated value proposition to customers, fits culturally with ours, and is purchased at a double-digit cash-on-cash yield with good long-term cash flow characteristics. Last but not least, we'll continue to return capital to shareholders after funding our maintenance CapEx expenditures, long-term investments, and dividends. From August 3rd of last year through the end of the third quarter of 2022, we've returned nearly $550 million in capital to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. Going forward, we expect to be a steady buyer of shares.
We may or may not be headed into a recession, but we remain focused on things that we control and doing what we've always done, and that is to maintain vessel service reliability, provide world-class customer service, and allocate your capital to its highest and best use to create value over the long term. With that, I will turn the call back over to the operator and ask for your questions.
Thank you, Matt. At this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Please stand by while we compile a Q&A roster. All right. Our first question comes from the line of Jack Atkins of Stephens. Your line is now open.
Okay. Okay, great. Matt, Joel, Lee, good afternoon, and thanks for taking my questions.
Hi, Jack.
I guess, you know, Matt, if I could go back to a comment that you made in your prepared comments, it was around, you know, you're seeing capacity come out of the Transpacific Lane. I think you said about 10% of capacity has been announced in terms of reductions here to address the lower levels of rates. You know, it's a tough question to ask, but I guess, you know, would you guys ever consider making some adjustments to capacity? I know it's difficult with the way your sailing schedule works, but, you know, what sort of backdrop would you maybe need to see before you'd consider doing something like that? Or is that just not something you would consider under really any circumstances?
Yeah. Thanks, Jack, for the question. I think firstly we've already removed in the CCX service, call it, 25% of our capacity. Once we saw the expedited market, which of course is the space that we focus on, as market demand waned, as many of our customers had canceled purchase orders or did not issue new ones, and we started to see the fall off in demand for the expedited market, which is very similar to the other markets, both the airfreight markets and the more conventional ocean markets.
We, I think, have taken a meaningful step towards reducing the capacity in line with the lower demand in the marketplace, just where we find ourselves in the cycle. We expect other carriers, as I said, have done or will do in the coming months to reduce capacity to the market demand level. I think that process is just underway now. Many were surprised by the pace or the slow pace of the reduction in demand and will be adjusting their fleets, I think, accordingly over time.
With regard to back to your question about Matson, we continue to believe that the capacity that we have now deployed with the CCX now terminated, it will be about right for the market, that it'll be about right for all of our domestic markets and the Transpacific capacity will be sufficient to be able to allow us to continue to operate both the CLX and the CLX +.
Okay. No, that makes sense. Thank you for that. I would be curious maybe to get your sense for maybe, you know, where you think your customers are in terms of their progress destocking inventories. You know, we first began kind of hearing about this in May. Sounds like it's gonna be a weak peak season. You know, I guess, is this something that's gonna go on for another couple of quarters, or is this something that could persist?
Yeah, it's a great question, Jack. I think from what we're hearing from our customers, and let me make a general comment first. I think what we've heard really is the peak season with the benefit of hindsight arrived early in the first half of the year, such that when customers saw the inventories on their balance sheet, they made, you know, rather dramatic cancellations of orders for existing POs and didn't issue new ones. We saw a disruption in the marketplace.
I think the view here, Jack, is that while we're hearing anecdotally from customers that purchase orders I think ultimately are gonna depend on what the level of end demand is and the pace at which our customers are making progress on reducing their inventory overhangs, as they try to manage themselves through you know an increasingly risky or signaling signs of a recession. We're hearing some people saying yes there is some warehouse space. Some of our wholesalers are saying they're looking forward to hearing and in discussion with their customers about orders for spring merchandise, those kinds of things.
That's why we said, we think for the next couple of quarters, there'll be cargo movement, certainly, but just at a lower level through there. I think ultimately what happens after that, we're not really commenting on, and perhaps it'll be partly decided by whether we enter a recession, what's the depth and duration of the recession and other geopolitical factors, lots of other things. At this point, you know, at this point, we're expecting to see cargo continuing to flow, and the pace at which is yet to be determined, I guess, is the best way to answer that.
Yeah. No, I know it's tough. It's tough to kinda know that. Maybe shifting gears to think about, you know, your Hawaii lane for a moment. You know, across sort of the lower 48, I know there was a fair amount of pull forward of goods consumption. I would just kind of be curious to get your sense for the degree to which that also happened in Hawaii. You know, with visitor arrivals, they're still a bit below 2019 levels. Do you think that it could be a tough couple, maybe a few quarters in sort of that Hawaii lane as we sort of digest that pull forward of demand that may or may not have happened there? Just would be curious to get your thoughts.
Yeah. It also is a good question, Jack, thanks. From my point of view, most of what we carry into Hawaii and Alaska and Guam, for that matter, are, you know, grocery store items, personal consumption. There are individual economic drivers that are slightly different in Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. I know you know this, but we generally see less dramatic swings in those economies because of their dependence on ocean freight just to get the daily goods in and out of the market. If there is a reduction, we would, as history has shown, expect to see those as much more modest reductions than we have seen.
Sure.
In other end markets. We're you know continuing to see you know relatively strong demand in those trade lanes off of a as we mentioned in my prepared remarks a very strong 2021. We're still seeing you know relatively healthy demand. In talking to businesses they continue to be short of workers which continues to bode well for you know the basic underlying strength of the economy.
Okay. Got it. Maybe one last question, I'll hand it over. You know, when we think about the slowdown that we're seeing as sort of the data in the Transpacific, whether it's rates or, you know, what's coming into the ports, you know, I know there can sometimes be a lag in terms of how that affects your business. You know, do you feel like that really was showing up in terms of the effect of the decline in rates through the third quarter in your business in the third quarter, or do you feel like that's something that could be more pronounced in the fourth quarter?
Just you know, maybe we're just gonna see in the fourth quarter what in your business, what we were seeing as sort of the spot rate data in the third. Just curious if there's some lag time in there that we should all consider.
Yeah. I think that's a good way to look at it, Jack. I think we saw the beginnings of it, and we called it in the second quarter earnings call, we have peaked. We saw declines as we went through the quarter, but it was sort of weighted towards the peaking and then the beginning of the reduction. It wasn't until September that we decided to terminate early the CCX. I think you'll get a full quarter in the fourth quarter of the clients that began. Then in Matson's specific case, less revenue and cost because we've terminated the CCX service. I think those rates continued all the way through the fourth quarter.
We'll see, I think, just because of the timing and the nature of where things turn, a more full force impact in the fourth quarter compared to the third.
Okay. Thank you for the comments, Matt. Really appreciate it.
Okay, Jack. Thanks.
Thank you, Jack. Please hold for the next question. All right. Up next is Benjamin Nolan from Stifel. Please proceed with your question.
Hey, good afternoon. This is Mikaela Rogers on for Ben. Thank you guys for taking our questions. Appreciate the time. As it relates to transpacific rate softening and subsequently maybe you know, revenue from transpacific trade softening, we were kind of wondering, is there any capacity to adjust down costs as well?
Yeah. What we had done, Mikaela, is in September, we removed one of our three transpacific strings, the CCX service that called from China. We've made that adjustment in September, so that will not be included in our fourth quarter volume. The other two services, the CLX service and the CLX+ services, we believe that the expedited market will be large enough for us to continue both of those services into the future. The cost reductions that are in place really are focused or centered around our elimination of the CCX service.
Thank you. That's helpful color. If we could ask another one. As the spot market and transpacific rates has declined, and obviously, you know, your rates have fluctuated with that, but you know, obviously you guys have been able to maintain your premium. Have you seen any compression of the premium, as it relates to rate softening or any insight into that would be helpful.
Yeah. Clearly the market was in transition or reset mode, and so what we saw were spot rates had come down during the quarter, as is published under the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index or SCFI. Those are public data. Of course, not all of Matson's business moves under that spot or short-term rates, and neither does much of the other trade for our competitors on the contract side of the business. Our rates were reduced in sympathy with the SCFI. With regard to the spread, I won't specifically comment on it other than to say our rates were pulled down in sympathy with the reduction in the SCFI.
Thank you very much. That's helpful. Maybe just one last one to round it out, if that's okay. As we're kind of seeing, an environment maybe normalizing, despite volumes still being relatively high, how are you guys thinking about the SSA contribution, on a more normalized basis moving forward?
Yeah, it's a good question. First of all, for Matson, our joint venture with SSAT provides two important benefits. The first, of course, is that it allows us to, through our joint venture, control the marine terminals on the West Coast in which we call, which gives us a lot of ability to influence the way in which and the priority in which the cargo is discharged, which provides us these destination services that we've mentioned several times in our discussion today. That benefit is significant and allows us, in part, one of the reasons why we're allowed and to charge a premium to the markets.
To the other element of the question, it also provides Matson an important level of income both because of our operation and the stevedoring of other international ocean carriers. That contribution has gone up dramatically through the cycle of the pandemic and supply chain congestion. We expect the earnings from that joint venture to moderate both because of lower volumes and lower congestion. That will lower the contribution from the joint venture, but still at levels that we think earn a very adequate return on our investment.
Great. Thank you so much, and, as always, appreciate the time.
Okay, Mikayla. Thank you.
Thank you, Mikayla. Again, as a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone to join the queue. Moving on, we will now have Jake Lacks from Wolfe Research. Please proceed with your question.
Hey, guys. Thanks for your time.
Okay. Hey, Jake.
I just wanted to touch on expenses for a little more. It looks like ocean expenses increased on a sequential basis despite lower volumes. You mentioned the CLX+ as a cost driver there. Is that primarily charter costs or is there something else in there?
Yeah. That is one of the significant cost increases, the charter cost. The other, of course, is fuel. Fuel has gone up rather significantly QoQ because of the geopolitical events that we're all familiar with. Those are the two main cost drivers.
Got it. There's been a lot of volatility in both the pricing and the cost structure as it relates to CLX+. Can you give us a sense as to where the economics of this strength stand now and maybe how it compares to the CLX service?
Yeah. I can do part of that. Jake , we don't publish or disclose segment information.
Yep
By trade lane. What I can say is that the CLX+ service has higher charter expense as we renew the charters. We have, as you may know, charters for seven vessels in our current fleet. Three of those expire in 2023, three in 2025 and one in 2026. Those are disclosed in the K. Those expenses are one element of the CLX+. Of course, fuel and port and stevedoring services, those are all there. As rates are due or are in reset mode, the profitability of the CLX+ service and the CLX service are being reduced.
We continue to be confident that there is a long-term demand for both our CLX and CLX+ services that we will continue to be able to charge a premium to the market prices, and are very committed and believe the expedited trade will allow us to continue to fill both services. We remain very optimistic about the CLX and CLX+ services as long-term value drivers for our shareholders.
Got it. That’s helpful. I just wanted to touch on potential impacts of IMO 2023. Curious if you think this will have a big impact on supply and will it impact any of your vessels?
Yeah. Like most shipowners, we're actively planning for the IMO 2023 changes that are just around the corner. For Matson, who operates a series of expedited vessels, it's important to us that we remain differentiated in terms of speed and cargo availability that have allowed us to position ourselves as the fastest and second fastest, and that's both in terms of ocean speed, but also cargo availability once it hits the West Coast. We're doing active planning around that. We think we've got a good plan, and we think that it will allow us to continue to operate the fastest and second fastest services in the Transpacific, and we feel good about our position there.
With regard to your question about capacity, for many shipowners, their decision may be to slow their vessels down, in order to comply with the IMO regulations. There's various ranges of estimates as to how much vessel capacity that's in the trade today will be absorbed by slowing the vessels down. We've seen as low as none, no impact to vessel capacity to as much as 15%. We're not exactly sure, but we feel good about our own planning, and we continue to expect to have the fastest and second fastest service in the Transpacific moving forward.
All right. Thanks for the time.
Okay, Jake. Thanks very much.
All right. Thank you, Jake, and thank you all for the questions. At this time, I would like to send it back to Matt for closing remarks.
Okay. Well, thanks for your interest and participation today. We will look forward to catching everyone on our year-end earnings call. Aloha.
Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.