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Matson profit falls due to molasses settlement

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  • SEPTEMBER 2013
    A worker from Pacific Environmental Corp. scoops up dead marine life near the Matson shipyard in Kapalama Basin. An estimated 233

Matson Inc. profit fell by nearly half in the second quarter from a year earlier after settling claims for spilling molasses into Honolulu Harbor two years ago and encountering higher-than-expected expenses for breaking into the Alaska shipping market earlier this year. 

The Honolulu-based ocean cargo transportation firm announced Tuesday that its net income for the three months ended June 30 was $9.9 million, down from $18.1 million in the same quarter last year. 

Revenue was $447.6 million, up from $436.4 million in the same period. 

Matson said the drop in profit was primarily due to $13.5 million of additional selling, general and administrative expenses related to its May 29 acquisition of Alaska shipping operations from Horizon Lines Inc., and $11.4 million in costs for resolving state claims related to the estimated 233,000-gallon molasses spill that killed more than 26,000 fish and other marine life in Honolulu Harbor in September 2013. 

The $11.4 million molasses spill expense includes $5.9 million paid to the state and $5.5 million towards removing molasses tanks and converting other equipment on Sand Island. The molasses equipment work, according to a Matson estimate, could eventually be as much as $9.5 million.

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