Inter-island car shipping Hawaii between all six islands

Pricing

Inter-island car shipping Hawaii cost by vehicle weight

Your rate depends on the weight printed on your registration. A midsize sedan and a compact SUV usually share the middle bracket, while full-size pickups and three-row SUVs tend to land in the top one. The destination harbor matters too: the Big Island ports at Hilo and Kawaihae cost a little more than Maui, Kauai, Molokai, or Lanai.

All figures are one way, port to port, before Hawaii tax. The barge fuel adjustment resets every quarter, so we confirm the exact figure when we quote.

Shipping from the mainland instead? Our mainland-to-Hawaii shipping costs page covers those routes.

What’s in our quote and what costs extra

Every inter-island car shipping cost we quote includes the ocean freight, the fuel and inflation adjustments the barge applies, the per-vehicle harbor wharfage, and basic cargo coverage up to $5,000 of value. Those don’t show up as surprise line items after drop-off.

A few things sit outside the table:

• Tax. Hawaii tax is added on top.
• Door service. Pickup and delivery are priced per address, since a drive to the harbor from Kona or Lahaina is a different job than a pickup two miles from the pier.
• Neighbor island to neighbor island. These routes connect in Honolulu and are priced as connecting shipments, so we quote each one individually.
• Storage. It only applies if the car sits at the harbor past its free pickup window.

Size can change the pricing method entirely. A vehicle over 6,500 lb, or longer than 20 ft, wider than 8 ft, or taller than 7 ft, ships as roll-on/roll-off cargo priced by cubic measurement. For a heavy-duty crew-cab pickup, that usually means $1,200 or more port to port. Our page on shipping a truck to Hawaii covers oversize vehicles in more detail. Cars sitting lower than 5 inches off the ground may need platform loading, which is also priced separately.

Paying less on a round trip

If the same car returns to its original island within 30 days of being released at the destination, the return leg ships at a much lower rate: roughly $170 to $300 port to port, depending on weight and island. That makes a month of work on Maui or a few weeks with family on Kauai a lot cheaper to do in your own car. We book both legs together so the first shipment’s paperwork is already on file for the return rate.

Two smaller savings: dropping the car at the harbor yourself skips the door leg, and picking it up inside the free window keeps storage off the bill.

Sailings and timing

Inter-island sailing schedule and transit time

Twelve barge departures leave Honolulu for the neighbor islands each week, and most crossings take a single day. Young Brothers runs those barges as the state-regulated inter-island carrier, and we book every car onto that schedule ourselves.

Inter-island car transport timing has more pieces than the crossing itself:

• Reservation. We reserve your sailing about a month ahead, which is the lead time vehicle bookings call for.S
• Drop-off. The car goes to the origin harbor by appointment before the sailing. A missed appointment pushes the car to the next sailing, which is a few days later on most routes and a full week on Lanai.
• Release. The car is released the next business day after the barge arrives. A Monday departure from Honolulu reaches Kahului Tuesday and is ready Wednesday, while a Friday arrival waits until Monday.

Routes between two neighbor islands add a connection in Honolulu. Maui to the Big Island runs about a week port to port when the sailings line up, and longer when they don’t.

Once released, the car has two business days of free time at the harbor, with weekends and holidays not counted. After that, storage runs about $21 a day with a minimum near $70, so even one late day costs the full minimum. We schedule the destination pickup before the car sails so it doesn’t sit.

Weather moves this schedule more often than people expect:

• June 2026: high swells kept the barge from unloading at both Molokai and Lanai, and it took an extra sailing to clear the backlog.
• September 2026: two storms closed or restricted Hilo, Kawaihae, Nawiliwili, and Kaumalapau and pushed several sailings back.

When a sailing shifts, we rebook the connection and the door delivery around it. If your car is coming from the mainland first, check how long mainland shipments take before the island leg starts.

Routes

Hawaii interisland car shipping routes we run in both directions

Every route below runs both ways at the same rates, and each one starts or ends at Honolulu Harbor, Pier 40.

Oahu to Maui and Maui to Oahu

This is the most frequent route on the schedule, with three sailings a week in each direction and one day at sea. When you ship a car from Oahu to Maui, it arrives at Kahului Harbor, Pier 2. That’s the only vehicle port on Maui, so cars from Lahaina and Kihei come through there too. Going the other way, a car leaving Kahului on a Tuesday is ready in Honolulu on Thursday. If you’re bringing a car from the mainland instead, see how we ship a car to Maui.

Honolulu to Hilo or Kawaihae

The Big Island has two vehicle ports, and picking the one closer to you saves a long drive across the island.

• Hilo, Pier 4 serves the east side. Sailings leave Honolulu Tuesday and Saturday and take two days.
• Kawaihae, Pier 2 serves Kona, Waimea, and the Kohala coast. Departures are Monday and Thursday, with one day at sea.

When we ship a car from Honolulu to Hilo, it’s released the business day after the barge docks. A Tuesday sailing means Friday pickup.

Oahu to Kauai and back

Kauai cars ship through Nawiliwili Harbor, Pier 3, just outside Lihue. There are two sailings a week each way: Monday and Thursday out of Honolulu, Tuesday and Friday back. The crossing takes one day. If you live in Hanalei or Princeville, door pickup saves you the round trip to the harbor. Moving a car from the mainland to the island instead? Here’s how we ship a car to Kauai.

Molokai and Lanai

Both islands run on thin schedules through small harbors. Molokai has two sailings a week each way through Kaunakakai. Lanai has one sailing each way through Kaumalapau on the southwest coast, though cars arriving there are released the same day. Gate days at both harbors are limited, and swell can stop unloading entirely. We set the drop-off appointment first and build the rest of the shipment around it.

Neighbor island to neighbor island

There are no regular direct sailings between two neighbor islands. A car going from Kahului to Kawaihae looks like a short hop on the map, but it travels to Honolulu first, waits as connecting cargo, and goes back out on the next Big Island sailing. That second handling is why these routes cost more and take longer than any direct Oahu route. We book both legs together, so the car isn’t sitting in Honolulu waiting on an onward sailing nobody planned for.

How it works

How we handle shipping cars between Hawaiian islands

Your part is the booking details, the paperwork, and a final walk-around at delivery. We run everything in between.

We ship port to port, door to port, or door to door. The barge only runs harbor to harbor, so any door service is a local road leg our drivers handle on each island. Port to port costs the least if you can get to both harbors yourself. Door to door makes sense when you’re flying ahead of the car or live far from the pier. Military families transferring between installations on different islands follow the same steps, and our military car shipping in Hawaii page covers what’s different for PCS moves.

Before you ship

Documents and prep for interisland vehicle shipping

Hawaii law requires the same three documents for every car moving between islands: photo ID, current registration (or the certificate of ownership), and proof of insurance. The harbor checks all three at drop-off.

Financed and leased cars are simpler here than on mainland routes. If you’re the registered owner and you hand the car over yourself, your own documents cover it, with no lien holder authorization letter needed. Bought the car within the last 30 days and still waiting on the title transfer? A certificate of ownership signed by the previous owner can stand in for the registration, and your insurer can fax proof of coverage.

To ship at car rates, the vehicle has to:

• run and drive, on four wheels
• have a registered weight of 6,500 lb or less
• fit within 20 ft long, 8 ft wide, and 7 ft high
• have at least 5 inches of ground clearance

Lowered cars below 5 inches go on a 20 ft platform. For those, you supply four ratchet straps, each 2 inches wide, 10 ft long, and rated for 3,333 lb.

Avoiding delays

Where inter-island auto shipping goes wrong and how we prevent it

A driver shows up with a PDF of the notarized letter. The booking is correct and the car is clean, but the harbor still turns it away, because only the original counts. We confirm the original is in our driver’s hands before we dispatch.

The owner needs someone else to collect the car after it ships. Once the car is tendered, changing the receiving party costs from about $72, and it only happens if the terminal can still accommodate it. That’s why we put a receiver and an alternate on every booking from the start.

A pickup comes straight from a ranch or job site, and mud in the wheel wells is enough to fail the agricultural check. We tell customers in rural areas to wash the undercarriage the day before drop-off.

A lifted truck turns out to be taller than 7 ft, and it gets rated as cargo instead of a car. We check the registered weight and measurements when we quote, so the price doesn’t change at the gate.

Damage gets noticed at home instead of at the terminal. Claims start with what’s written on the delivery paperwork, so inspect the car before it leaves the harbor. Written notice has to go in within 60 days, with two repair estimates, and we help you put that claim package together.

Freshly detailed and collectible cars arrive with a film of salt. The barge is open to the air, so we tell owners up front that this isn’t enclosed transport and that they should plan a wash after delivery.