How shipping a car to or from Hawaii works

Shipping a car to Hawaii, or from Hawaii to the mainland, is an ocean move. The car is delivered to a port or a service center, loaded to a ship or a barge, and picked up at the other end. A highway carrier that stops at a California dock has not finished the job. The sailing cutoff on the ocean booking is the deadline to have the car at that terminal. It is not a promise about how long a truck takes to drive there.

RideShipper can show a road range and request quotes for a road leg. It does not operate a ship, and it does not publish an ocean formula as if it were a truck rate. See how price estimates are made. Companies that receive a quote request may pay RideShipper. The commercial overview is Hawaii car shipping.

Which operator, and which port?#

These are the pages opened on 10 November 2026. Schedules change. Book from the operator's current page.

Matson. The car FAQ lists Hawaii ports at Hilo, Honolulu, Kahului, and Nawiliwili, and mainland ports at Long Beach and Oakland. It says Tacoma serves Alaska, Guam, and Saipan vehicles only. It says no vehicle exceeding 21 feet 8 inches long, 7 feet 2 inches wide, and 6 feet 4 inches high may ship westbound from Oakland, and that vehicles must be under 76 inches high, including a roof rack, and under 76 inches wide from outside tire to outside tire. It says Matson has suspended acceptance of new or used electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

From the sail date, Matson says transit averages 9 to 24 days to or from Honolulu, and 33 to 45 days to or from Nawiliwili, Hilo, or Kahului, via barge from Honolulu. The FAQ says that time includes sailing, loading, and the neighbor-island barge, and that it varies. It also says Matson runs a monthly barge from Honolulu to Nawiliwili, Kahului, and Hilo. Do not plan a neighbor-island arrival as if it were the Honolulu ship.

Matson's FAQ says mainland-to-Hawaii shipping starts at $1,790 and Hawaii-to-mainland starts at $1,020, and it sends you to the rate page for standard vehicles of 21 feet 8 inches long, 8 feet wide, and 7 feet high or less. Those starting figures are Matson's, on that page, that day. Oversized vehicles are a phone quote. Payment methods and which ports take payment in person are also on the FAQ. Read them. Personal checks are not accepted, on that page.

Pasha Hawaii. The vehicle overview lists Honolulu, Hilo, and Kahului. It describes enclosed roll-on/roll-off service, weekly service to Honolulu, and biweekly service to Hilo and Kahului. It says residential pickup and delivery is suspended. It says vehicles must be booked before you deliver them, and that arriving without an appointment can get you turned away. It lists an inoperable fee of $500 per vehicle, storage of $25 per day after the free days, and plating at $500 per vehicle. Vehicles over 21 feet 8 inches long, 8 feet wide, and 7 feet high go to the oversize desk. A premium option on that page refunds 75 percent of the ocean shipping fees if the car is not available at the destination, excluding weather and other causes beyond Pasha's control. That is Pasha's term, not a RideShipper promise. The overview does not state an EV ban. Ask before you book an EV.

Alaska Marine Lines. AML says it sails between Seattle and Hawaii, as well as Alaska, and that vehicles move between its service centers, not door to door. It does not ship EVs or plug-in hybrids. For Hawaii it allows only factory-installed equipment in the car. Personal effects are prohibited. Fuel must be under one-quarter tank, which AML calls a Coast Guard rule, or a drainage fee is added. Inoperable gas cars are accepted with an extra load fee at each end. Rates follow overall dimensions.

A highway quote to Seattle, Oakland, or Long Beach is a different purchase from any of these bookings. Port delivery is the handoff. Ocean vehicle shipping is the category.

What should I do, in order?#

1. Pick the island and the operator. Neighbor islands are not the same timing as Honolulu.
2. Read that operator's current limits for EVs, size, personal items, and fuel.
3. Book the sailing and get the cutoff and the terminal address.
4. If the car is not already near that terminal, book a road leg that arrives before the cutoff, with a buffer. A truck's pickup window is a span of days. Missing the ship is your storage problem at the port.
5. Clean the car of soil, plants, and food. Hawaii's Plant Quarantine Branch says state and federal agencies regulate the movement of plant material. Its travel page is the index. It is not a substitute for the ocean carrier's own acceptance rules. AML's Hawaii rule, above, already bans personal effects.
6. Photograph the car at drop-off. AML says it inspects at the terminal and notes damage on a form you should keep. Ask the other operators for the same paper.

Use a quote request for the road leg to the port you actually booked. Say the destination is a port, not a Honolulu driveway, unless a company has written that it includes the ocean leg.

Military orders and registration#

Military OneSource defines Hawaii as OCONUS. A government POV shipment, if the orders authorize it, goes through the transportation office and PCSmyPOV, not through a private port booking. Read what you pay for on PCS before you pay a commercial line for a car the government was going to move.

After the car arrives, plates and registration are the county or state process in Hawaii, or the mainland state you returned to. This page does not print that fee. Start with registering a car after you move for the order of steps, then use the agency's site.

How to plan the cutoff#

Work backward from the sailing, not forward from the day you decided to move.

1. The operator gives you a cutoff at a terminal. That is the last moment the car can be there for that vessel.
2. Subtract the road carrier's pickup window, which is a span of days, not a morning appointment.
3. Subtract the days the road carrier says the car may be in transit after pickup. That figure is a plan, not a guarantee.
4. If the result is before you can release the car, you are on the next sailing, not this one.

A missed cutoff is storage at the port, at the operator's rate, plus a later ship. Pasha's overview lists storage at $25 per day after the free days it grants, and it says an appointment is required. Matson and AML publish their own free-day and storage rules. Read the one you booked. Do not borrow Pasha's number for a Matson terminal.

Personal items are the other cutoff mistake. AML forbids them on a Hawaii vehicle and allows only factory equipment. Matson's FAQ is the place to read Matson's version before you pack the trunk. A car full of household goods can be turned away at the terminal, after the road carrier has already been paid for the trip to the port. Empty the car to the operator's list, not to what a friend was allowed to leave in a car on a mainland truck.

If the car does not run, say so before you book the ship. Pasha publishes a $500 inoperable fee on the overview we opened. AML charges extra to load and unload an inoperable gas car, and it refuses EVs. A non-runner still has to meet the fuel and size rules. See a car that does not run for the rolls, steers, and brakes questions. Those answers do not replace the operator's acceptance email.

Neighbor islands and the trip home#

Honolulu is not Hilo, Kahului, or Nawiliwili. Matson's FAQ says the neighbor-island arrivals it describes move by barge after Honolulu, with a longer range than the Honolulu range, and it lists a monthly barge. Pasha's overview lists weekly Honolulu service and biweekly service to Hilo and Kahului. If you live on a neighbor island, book that port. A car that stops in Honolulu still has to move again, on the operator's next barge, not on a truck you can hail at the pier.

The trip back to the mainland is a new booking. Matson's FAQ prints a different starting figure for Hawaii-to-mainland than for mainland-to-Hawaii. Use the direction you are actually shipping. A military member whose orders point the other way should ask the transportation office before paying a private ocean fare. The private fare and the government POV shipment are different.

At delivery, walk the car before you sign, the same way you would on a mainland truck. Salt air and a long sail are not, by themselves, a damage claim. New damage noted on the paperwork is. Take the condition report from the terminal drop-off with you. You will not remember a scratch from three weeks earlier. Registration starts after the operator releases the car, under the agency's rule, not under the sailing schedule.