How Matson Logistics modernized fleet management with Blume Global

Matson Logistics is a leading intermodal marketing company (IMC) in North America and a subsidiary of Matson, Inc. The company supports many of the world’s best-known brands, moving thousands of shipments of inbound materials, outbound finished goods, and industrial and consumer products every day across its highway and intermodal network. 

A key differentiator for Matson is its flexible, multi-sourced equipment model. The company manages a private fleet of roughly 1,000 domestic 53-foot containers and markets them through a wholesale program to transportation providers and competitors across the industry. This wholesale channel also includes repositioned international containers from its parent company, Matson Navigation, once those units move inland and sit empty after ocean moves. 

Alongside this, Matson’s retail business relies on 53-foot rail equipment to serve its customers directly. Together, the private fleet, repositioned ocean equipment, and retail rail assets form a unified capacity ecosystem that must be carefully balanced to maintain availability, utilization, and service quality across the network. 

A growing fleet managed through manual, error-prone processes 

As Matson’s private fleet grew, the company continued to rely on a patchwork of spreadsheets, emails, phone calls, and a legacy Access database to manage equipment reservations, track inventory, and coordinate across depots and truckers.  

These manual workflows created blind spots and introduced constant risk of error. As John Weber, Director of Intermodal Services, put it, “everything was done via email or phone calls,” and even a small manual error could disrupt the entire process, including billing.  

Visibility was also limited across assets. Inventory wasn’t posted in real time, forcing customers and internal teams into constant back-and-forth communication. Kimberly Tianio-Cruz, Director, Network Logistics explained, “Customers had to ask every single question… it was a lot of back and forth without any kind of visibility to our fleet.” 

With a fast-scaling private fleet, a dual retail–wholesale business model, and rising customer expectations for real-time status updates, Matson needed to eliminate manual effort and gain fleet-wide visibility. Digitization wasn’t just an upgrade; it had become essential for operational efficiency, reliability and scalability. 

Laying the foundation for a modern equipment strategy 

Matson’s dual-channel model required a system that could provide shared visibility, standardized booking workflows, and seamless coordination across railroads, depots, partners, and customers. Blume Global’s Asset Management platform was purpose-built for this kind of intermodal equipment ecosystem.  

Already the industry standard for managing rail equipment, Blume gave Matson’s wholesale customers access to its private fleet and repositioned ocean containers through the same interface they used for rail assets. As Weber noted, “Everybody’s used to getting their rail equipment in Blume… it just made sense to put our fleet into Blume.”  This eliminated the manual reservation process and gave customers a unified, self-service experience. He called the shift to Blume a “no-brainer”. 

Migrating to Blume also allowed Matson to finally retire its internal Access database and the development effort required to maintain it. Blume’s built-in data flows, integrations and analytics provided a scalable, ready-made foundation. As Weber put it, “Blume’s more efficient… it’s all within the system.” 

The platform also strengthened operational coordination. With real-time EDI and consistent event reporting, Matson could manage container movements across railroads and depots without relying on calls or email verification. As Cruz described it, “All our inventory is posted real time… and we have instantaneous communication with the railroads and our depots.” 

But the most transformative capability, and one increasingly demanded by customers, was visibility. Shippers no longer want occasional status updates; they expect real-time insight into where a container is, what condition it’s in, and when it will arrive. That expectation naturally led Matson into the next stage of modernization, IoT-enabled container intelligence. 

Turning Matson’s fleet into a real-time intelligence network 

Every unit in Matson’s private fleet is equipped with GPS devices and IoT sensors that capture a wide range of data on container location and condition. This intelligence flows directly into Blume, giving Matson and its customers a level of insight that was impossible with rail events alone. 

Cruz highlighted the breadth of data Matson can now surface through Blume, 
“It tells us when a door opens or closes, measures cargo percentages, monitors temperature… and all of that information goes through the Blume system.” 

With this IoT foundation, Matson unlocks several high-value operational and customer-facing capabilities 

• Close the street-visibility blind spot by providing continuous, real-time tracking beyond rail events, giving customers insight into where containers are at every stage. 
• Strengthen security and shipment integrity through door-open alerts, temperature monitoring, load percentages and frequent updates for high-value and time-sensitive freight. 
• Improve carrier performance and reduce dwell time using GPS-based dwell insights to identify bottlenecks and avoid carriers that create delays. 
• Industry-leading cross-border and intra-Mexico operations, where real-time inland tracking and sensor data have become a major differentiator. 
• Ensure precise planning and repositioning decisions by combining sensor intelligence with Blume’s event data to identify surpluses, deficits, and emerging needs. 

Operational excellence across teams and functions 

Beyond just replacing manual processes, digitalization reshaped how Matson plans, coordinates, and executes every part of the business. With real-time inventory, centralized workflows, and integrated event data, teams across operations, network logistics, forecasting, billing, and customer service now work from the same reliable source of truth. 

Streamlined operations and planning 

With Blume, operations teams can plan ahead instead of reacting to fragmented information. James Byington, Intermodal Coordinator, Team Lead, explains, “I’m better able to coordinate advance bookings… plan my days and weeks in advance for customer shipments.” Filtering tools help teams cut through noise and focus on the exact equipment needed in each market. 

Stronger internal planning and coordination 

Blume enables seamless communication between operations and equipment teams. 
Byington noted that orders entered into Blume immediately inform downstream planning, “Our equipment team can then forecast what we have to do down the pipeline.” 

Better forecasting, surplus/deficit management, and repositioning 

Real-time container availability and booking data help Matson anticipate capacity-tight markets, move containers proactively, and increase fleet utilization while reducing dwell time. Teams can quickly identify surpluses, uncover deficit areas, and decide where repositioning is needed to support demand. 

Wholesale & retail efficiency through a shared unified system 

Both Matson’s wholesale customers and internal retail teams now use the same platform to search availability, book equipment, trace containers, and view dwell status. For wholesale customers especially, the ability to book privately owned fleet containers through Blume streamlines reservations and reduces back-and-forth communication. 

Improved billing, exception management & business intelligence 

Blume’s reporting tools support more accurate cost estimation and financial control. 
Hayden Cam, Network and Pricing Analyst, relies on system data to handle accruals and forecast storage and chassis costs “Using the reports gives me a snapshot… and allows me to put a more precise estimate on it rather than a guesstimate” 

Faster customer service & issue resolution 

By reducing manual communication and eliminating the need to verify data across depots, truckers, and internal teams, Blume frees time for higher-value customer support. Byington summarizes, “The software frees up more of my time… so when problems happen, I have more time available to take action.” 

Strengthening leadership and setting up the future 

Blume has become a core enabler of Matson Logistics’ growth, operational discipline, and customer-first culture. With streamlined workflows, real-time visibility, and IoT intelligence across its private fleet, Matson now operates with the speed, accuracy, and confidence required of a top-tier IMC. 

These improvements helped reinforce Matson’s long-standing reputation for reliability and service excellence. As Cruz noted, “We were voted number one IMC in 2024 and 2025 because of our superior customer service, and Blume helps us do that.” 

With continued investment in IoT, forecasting, and Mexico cross-border operations, Matson is already shaping the next chapter of its transformation. The foundation is in place, with better visibility, smarter decisions, stronger coordination, and a platform that can scale with customer expectations and market demands.