Pasha Hawaii is a third-generation, family-owned company with ties to Hawai‘i dating back to World War II. It is one of the nation’s leading domestic ocean shipping companies with dedicated service to Hawai‘i from the continental United States. Pasha Hawaii operates a fleet of six vessels out of multiple ports. Pasha Hawaii introduced its first vessel, MV Jean Anne, to Hawai‘i in 2005, the same year Reggie Maldonado joined the company as General Manager. With his deep ties to Hawai‘i and his background in the automotive industry, Pasha Hawaii knew that Mr. Maldonado would provide valuable support to the company as Pasha Hawaii introduced the first roll-on roll-off ocean transportation services to the businesses and people of the State of Hawai‘i.

How do you define success?
Success is seeing your hard work and dedication come to fruition. Our business is based on relationships and building trust with our customers. When I first started with Pasha Hawaii, the company had launched its first ship with a handful of employees. Today, Pasha Hawaii’s fleet has grown to six ships, with two more on the way, and we now employ more than 400 team members.

Pasha Hawaii’s growth and success is a tribute to our team members and the loyalty we’ve earned from our customers. Many of our employees have been with us from the very beginning, including myself. Our success lies in helping our customers not only succeed, but grow their business.

What do you hope to see in your industry in the next 10 years?
I’d like to see the continued growth in diversity within the maritime industry. Maritime plays such a crucial role in our everyday lives, and we need to ensure we have the workforce needed to support this important industry. Employing women, minorities and people from all walks of life and experiences leads to increased creativity, innovation and the sharing of different perspectives. This results in better productivity and problem solving. Within Pasha Hawaii, I also hope to see our employees continue to grow in their maritime careers.

What do you love most about your job?
Working with people and providing Hawai‘i with an essential service, 24/7. As an Island state, more than 90 percent of all goods imported are brought via ocean carrier. For myself and our Pasha Hawaii team, we have a strong sense of responsibility to make sure our customers have what they need. It’s very gratifying to hear our customers tell us our customer service and delivery is second to none.

Being able to give back to the community is also one of the best aspects of my job. A few years back, we teamed up with our sister company, Hawaii Stevedores, Inc., to create an employee community action team program called Hui Hulilima (Helping Hands). Together, employees from both Pasha Hawaii and Hawaii Stevedores go out into the community throughout the year, providing volunteer services supported by company-sponsored financial donations.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing your industry?
It’s a high-cost industry that requires constant investments in your infrastructure. Over the course of several years, Pasha has invested approximately $1 billion in its Hawai‘i business that includes the construction of new ships, new containers, and the current development of the state-of-the-art Kapalama Container Terminal.

We are always looking for ways to improve not only our customer service, but our impact on the environment through green initiatives. We will soon welcome two new containerships, MV George III and MV Janet Marie. The ships are named after the late parents of our current President and CEO, George Pasha IV. I had the pleasure of knowing both George III and Janet Pasha. Working with George Pasha III was gratifying for me because he too consistently focused on providing the highest quality ocean transportation services and customer service to our community that we, as a team, could do; our current President shares that vision. Both ships will operate on natural gas from day one, surpassing the International Maritime Organization (IMO) 2030 standards for ocean vessels with close to zero sulfur emissions, and resulting in a 99.9 percent reduction in particulate matter, a 90 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide and 25 percent reduced carbon dioxide as compared to liquid oil fuels. Upon its inaugural sail from the Port of Long Beach, George III will be the first natural gas-powered containership to fuel on the West Coast and the first to service Hawai‘i. Honolulu will serve as the home port for both ships.

How did the pandemic affect your operations?
I don’t think there’s a single business that wasn’t impacted by this unprecedented pandemic. This was, by far, one of the most significant challenges we have faced as a company, yet nothing stopped us from being able to maintain our operations on schedule and meet the ever-changing needs of our customers.

The biggest challenge was successfully pivoting our operations numerous times without knowing how long this pandemic would last or how it would ultimately affect Hawai‘i. State and county mandates were constantly being updated, which affected individual consumer behaviors, and led to a swift drop in tourism, quickly changing the normal supply and demand patterns. We worked closely with our customers and vendors to make the necessary adjustments and to ensure they had what they needed to keep their doors open and shelves stocked.

As frontline essential workers, we also implemented and adhered to internal safety measures to keep our team members safe, ensuring our 24/7 operations were not disrupted. Seeing the amazing teamwork, resilience and dedication from our team is something I will never forget.