Ocean vehicles

Shipping a car from Seattle to Hawaii: where the routes actually run

Two carriers publish anything at all for a mainland car headed to Hawaii, and neither one hands a Seattle-area shipper a straight answer. Matson's own rate card, read 2026-08-22, states that auto shipments to and from Hawaii through Tacoma have been suspended — of its three mainland ports, only Long Beach and Oakland carry a posted Hawaii rate. Pasha Hawaii still runs a vehicle drop-off south of Seattle, in Auburn, WA, but it prices that route the way it prices every route: individually, after a booking, not on a public page. What follows is what each carrier actually publishes, read the same day, plus a live price for the one part of this move SMKlog can quote directly.

Two carrier rate pages, read 2026-08-22Real Seattle-area terminalBelongings leg priced live

Send vehicle details for freight review

Vehicle staged at a Pacific Northwest terminal for ocean shipment

One suspended lane, one unpublished one

Matson names Tacoma and stops there. Pasha names Seattle and quotes it by phone.

Matson's posted Hawaii rate skips Tacoma outright

Matson is the one carrier in this trade that prints an actual dollar figure rather than a per-mile estimate, which is exactly why the Tacoma line on its own rate page is worth reading carefully. The table below is Matson's published Hawaii rate card, effective 6/7/2026, read from matson.com on 2026-08-22.

Matson's published mainland-to-Hawaii vehicle rates, effective 6/7/2026, from matson.com, read 2026-08-22. Matson names Long Beach, Oakland and Tacoma as its mainland ports; the same page also posts Hawaii rates from Alaska origins, which are not shown here. Figures are the carrier's own posted rate, not a live SMKlog quote. A separate invasive species fee of 0.75 cents per 1,000 lb applies to Hawaii shipments.
Origin	Destination	Rate
Long Beach or Oakland	Honolulu	1,790.00 USD
Long Beach or Oakland	Hilo, Kahului or Nawiliwili	2,600.00 USD
Tacoma	Any Hawaii port	Suspended

Matson's page states the Tacoma line in one sentence: “Auto shipments to/from Hawaii through Tacoma have been suspended. If you have an existing booking and have not yet delivered your vehicle to us, please contact our Customer Service Center for further information.” The same page keeps Tacoma fully active for Alaska — Tacoma to Anchorage still posts a rate — so the suspension names Hawaii specifically rather than the port generally. Matson does not say why, and this page will not guess.

That leaves one path to Matson's published number: get the car to Long Beach or Oakland. Matson also excludes electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles from every route on this rate page, citing the hazardous material classification of their lithium-ion batteries, and its rates exclude vehicles over 21 feet 8 inches long, 8 feet wide or 7 feet tall.

Oakland carries its own exclusions on top of that, and they matter if the plan is to truck the car south. The same page states that no vehicle exceeding 21'8" long by 6'4" wide by 6'4" high may be shipped eastbound or westbound from Oakland, and that no Corvette or Camaro may be shipped westbound to Hawaii from Oakland. A car ruled out at Oakland is not ruled out at Long Beach, so the choice of California port is part of the plan rather than an afterthought.

Pasha Hawaii keeps a Seattle-area terminal, but no posted rate

Pasha Hawaii is the other carrier running roll-on/roll-off vehicle service to Hawaii, and its own terminal listing, read 2026-08-22, names a Seattle-area drop-off point that Matson's Tacoma suspension leaves without a Matson equivalent.

Pasha Hawaii's Seattle vehicle terminal, from pashahawaii.com, read 2026-08-22.
Detail	What the terminal page states
Location	Pasha Hawaii Seattle OffDock, 3220 Ron Crockett Drive, North Gate, Auburn, WA 98001
Hours	Appointment required — Mon/Wed/Fri 9:00am–4:00pm, Tue/Thu 9:00am–2:00pm
What it takes	Automobiles only — motorcycles cannot be accepted at the Seattle location
Free storage	5 calendar days before a per-day charge starts

Pasha's overview page, also read 2026-08-22, lists mainland vehicle locations in California, Texas and Washington without publishing a dollar figure for any of them, and states that all vehicles must be booked before they arrive at a terminal. The same page names two fees worth knowing before booking: a 500.00 USD charge per vehicle for an in-op car that cannot drive on and off under its own power, and 25.00 USD per day for storage past the free window. Getting a number for the Seattle-to-Hawaii leg means calling (866) 363-7485, emailing Autoservice@pashahawaii.com, or starting a booking on Pasha's own site — not reading a page.

The real choice: drive to the rate, or quote the drop-off

Strip away the carrier names and this is an ordinary logistics trade-off, just one where only one side of it is written down anywhere. Trucking the car south to Long Beach or Oakland buys Matson's posted 1,790.00 to 2,600.00 USD Hawaii rate at the cost of a mainland trucking leg neither carrier prices for you. Booking through Pasha's Auburn terminal buys a short drive from Seattle at the cost of a number nobody prints until a booking is underway.

Which one comes out cheaper depends entirely on what a car hauler charges to move the vehicle from the Seattle area down to a California port, a figure this page cannot supply without inventing it. The honest move is to get both numbers — Matson's posted rate plus a real trucking quote against Pasha's individual quote from Auburn — before assuming the unpublished option is the expensive one.

What we can price directly: the box that comes out of the car

Both carriers exclude personal items from a vehicle booking, so whatever was riding in the trunk becomes an ordinary parcel. We ran an 18 × 14 × 12 in, 25 lb carton of clothing, tools and personal items from Seattle, WA 98101 to Honolulu, HI 96813 against production on 2026-08-22.

Carton of clothing, tools and personal items removed from a vehicle, 18 x 14 x 12 in at 25 lb, Seattle, WA 98101 to Honolulu, HI 96813, quoted against production 2026-08-22. Full checkout total, SMKlog's charge already included.
Carrier	Service	Price	Estimated transit
USPS	Ground Advantage	$92.27	10-11 business days
UPS	Ground Saver	$108.82	6 business days
UPS	Ground	$126.93	8-9 business days
USPS	Priority Mail	$129.49	3-4 business days
UPS	2nd Day Air	$148.90	3-4 business days

USPS Ground Advantage at $92.27 is the cheapest of the five, and every option here beats waiting on either carrier's fee schedule for a car full of belongings, since neither will take one. Pack the same box smaller and the price drops with it — check your own carton in the calculator before taping it shut.

Run this exact example Price your own carton

What SMKlog does with a request like this

Our checkout sells United States domestic parcel labels, sized for a parcel network's own conveyor rather than a car on a ship's deck. A vehicle request goes through freight review, where a person can work from the car's real measurements — though neither we nor anyone else can make Matson reopen a suspended lane or turn Pasha's individual quote into a published one. See our general vehicle-to-Hawaii guide for what a carrier strips out of the car before it ships, and our Seattle-to-Alaska guide for the one lane out of this region that does have a posted rate.

Request a freight review The general Hawaii vehicle guide

Where these figures come from

Matson, Car Shipping Cost and Payment — the Long Beach/Oakland-to-Hawaii rate table, the Tacoma-to-Hawaii suspension notice, the EV/plug-in hybrid exclusion, the vehicle dimension ceiling, the Oakland-specific size and model exclusions, and the invasive species fee. Rates effective 6/7/2026, read 2026-08-22.
Pasha Hawaii, Ship a Vehicle overview — the mainland vehicle locations in California, Texas and Washington, the pre-booking requirement, and the in-op and storage fees. Read 2026-08-22.
Pasha Hawaii, Seattle, WA/Vehicles terminal page — the Auburn, WA address, hours, automobile-only restriction and free storage window. Read 2026-08-22.
Prices: our own capture of one carton against production on 2026-08-22, Seattle, WA 98101 to Honolulu, HI 96813.

Ocean carriers suspend and reopen lanes, and revise rate cards, without notice. Treat the figures above as what each carrier published on the date shown, and confirm the current routing and rate directly before booking.

Common questions

How much does it cost to ship a car from Seattle to Hawaii?

Nobody publishes one figure for that exact lane. Matson's own rate page, read 2026-08-22, posts Hawaii rates from only two of its three mainland ports, Long Beach and Oakland — 1,790.00 USD to Honolulu and 2,600.00 USD to Hilo, Kahului or Nawiliwili, effective 6/7/2026 — and states plainly that auto shipments to and from Hawaii through Tacoma have been suspended. Pasha Hawaii keeps a vehicle drop-off near Seattle, but prices that route individually rather than posting a rate.

Can I still drop a car off near Seattle for a Hawaii move?

Yes, through Pasha Hawaii rather than Matson. Its Seattle OffDock, read 2026-08-22, sits at 3220 Ron Crockett Drive, North Gate, Auburn, WA 98001, open by appointment Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00am to 4:00pm and Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00am to 2:00pm, and it takes automobiles only — motorcycles cannot be accepted there. Free storage runs 5 calendar days before a per-day charge starts.

Why did Matson stop shipping cars from Tacoma to Hawaii?

Its own rate page does not say. The line reads only that auto shipments to and from Hawaii through Tacoma have been suspended, with a note for anyone holding an existing booking to call customer service before delivering a vehicle. Tacoma still ships cars to and from Alaska on the same page — the suspension names Hawaii specifically.

Is it cheaper to truck the car to Long Beach or Oakland instead?

That is the real trade-off, and neither Matson's rate page nor this one can put a number on the trucking leg. Getting the car to Long Beach or Oakland buys Matson's posted 1,790.00 USD to 2,600.00 USD rate; booking through Pasha's Auburn terminal buys a shorter drive but an individually quoted price. Get both numbers before choosing — an unpublished quote is not automatically the worse one.

What can SMKlog actually price on this move?

The box of belongings pulled out of the car before it ships — neither ocean carrier accepts a vehicle packed with personal items. An 18 x 14 x 12 in, 25 lb carton went from Seattle, WA 98101 to Honolulu, HI 96813 for 92.27 USD on USPS Ground Advantage, quoted against production on 2026-08-22.