A strong fourth quarter punctuated earnings growth for Matson Inc. last year, according to a financial report released Tuesday by the Hawaii-based ocean cargo transportation firm.

Matson more than tripled its fourth-quarter net income to $27.8 million from $7.3 million in the same period the year before, though the results for the last three months of 2013 were depressed by a big litigation expense.

The boost in the last three months of 2014 helped push up full-year profit for Matson to $70.8 million from $53.7 million the year before.

Revenue totaled $1.7 billion last year, up from $1.6 billion a year earlier.

Revenue for the fourth quarter was $443.5 million, up from $410.9 million in the same quarter in 2013.

Matt Cox, Matson president and CEO, said in a statement that all areas of the company’s business — Hawaii cargo, China and Guam service, terminal operations and logistics business — did well. “2014 was a good year for Matson, punctuated by a strong fourth quarter,” he said.