In an abrupt announcement, Matson told customers on Tuesday that they will be stopping transport of electric and hybrid plug-in vehicles on their vessels, effective immediately.

The company cites increasing fire risk at sea linked to transporting large lithium-ion batteries, which can be extremely difficult to extinguish once they ignite.

It comes on the heels of a cargo carrying hundreds of Ev’s caught on fire in the Pacific Ocean, forcing its crew to abandon ship last month.

Atkins Kroll Business Development Director Ernie Galito says it will be an additional headwind for the automotive industry, which is already feeling sluggish with EV sales.

“It’s going to force local dealerships to look for alternative routes to ship EV’s from the production plant to Guam. It’s unfortunate because we’re trying to grow the EV business here. There’s already kind of a headwind to try to get EV’s started here on Guam, even though Guam is the perfect place to have EVs because of the short driving distances,” said Galito.

He adds the EV business will already be a “slow burn” after President Trump’s big beautiful bill put an end to federal EV support.

“He eliminated the $7,500 tax credits for people who buy U.S. made EVs and also it was $4,000 tax credits for people who bought used EVs. We are hoping that the local government will keep with their $3,000 grant for people who do choose to keep EVs. That will spur the market to convert from an internal combustion engine to an EV,” added Galito.

Still, from your average consumer to GovGuam, the demand for low-emission vehicles is still there.

“The habit here is basically to stop and go driving. The range here is, people don’t drive more than a hundred miles a day. So if you have a home charger or go to one of the public chargers, you don’t have to worry about charging it up to full capacity,” Galito said.

In recent years, the Guam Power Authority has been adopting EV’s, developing charging infrastructure and looking at vehicle to grid capabilities for grid stability.

KUAM reached out to GPA for comment on the impacts to their initiatives and have not received a response as of news time.

In the meantime, Matson says the pause will be in place until appropriate safety solutions are implemented.