Losses from a pullback in the China shipping trade hurt third-quarter profits for Alexander & Baldwin Inc.

The Honolulu-based company reported Tuesday that its net profit for the July-September period sank 66 percent to $8.7 million from $25.7 million in the same quarter last year.

Revenue was about flat for the quarter at $440.2 million compared with $437.3 million a year earlier.

Stan Kuriyama, A&B president and chief executive officer, said in a conference call with stock analysts that A&B’s core businesses of ocean cargo transportation to Hawaii, real estate and agriculture are generating stable earnings despite a difficult economic environment.

"Aside from the (discontinued China cargo service) losses, the company’s overall performance in the third quarter was relatively consistent with last year," he said. "We continue to be well positioned for a market recovery."

However, Kuriyama also said the company would continue to pay close attention to expenses, and he announced a freeze on pension benefits effective Dec. 31 for all nonunion employees. A&B will convert its defined-benefit plan to a cash-balance plan.

Shares of A&B stock closed on Tuesday at $42.32 before the earnings report was released. The price was up from Monday’s closing price of $41.93 on the New York Stock Exchange.

A&B said third-quarter earnings benefitted from agriculture operations and real estate business that included the sale of an industrial property on Maui. But expenses and losses from ocean cargo transportation between China and California at subsidiary Matson Navigation Co. reduced overall earnings.

Matson launched China cargo runs in 2006 and doubled service on the route in September 2010. But falling demand from shippers and an oversupply in capacity led Matson to cut its China service by half in August. A&B said it incurred a $28.5 million pretax loss related to the cutback in the third quarter.

A&B said Matson’s remaining China cargo service is profitable, as is Matson overall.

Total operating profit for Matson in the third quarter was $28.6 million, down 33 percent from $42.5 million in the same quarter last year.

The results were aided by 3 percent gains in Matson’s core service, cargo and automobile deliveries to Hawaii, A&B reported.

"Our Hawaii service continues to be a bright spot with Matson," Matthew Cox, Matson president, said on the conference call.

A&B’s real estate leasing produced a relatively flat operating profit of $9.2 million in the third quarter compared with $9.3 million a year earlier.

Real estate sales accounted for an operating profit of $3.5 million in the third quarter, up from $2.9 million a year earlier.

The biggest improvement among A&B divisions in the third quarter came from its agriculture subsidiary that includes Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. on Maui. The segment’s operating profit in the quarter was $3.8 million, up from $800,000 a year earlier.

A&B said the surge was primarily from electricity sales from power plant operations tied to farming.