Matson profit up 93 percent

Matson Inc., the largest ocean cargo carrier serving Hawaii, said Wednesday its third-quarter profit jumped 93 percent to $41.5 million with the addition of its new Alaska service bought from Horizon Lines.

The company reported earnings per diluted share of 94 cents for the third quarter, up from 50 cents per diluted share in the year-earlier period, when it made $21.5 million. Revenue for the third quarter was $544.3 million, compared with $441.8 million reported for the third quarter 2014.

CEO Matt Cox said, “Third-quarter results were strong, led by continued high demand for our expedited China service, a full quarter of our new Alaska business, volume improvements in Hawaii, and improved performance at SSAT (a joint venture that manages Matson’s container stevedoring and terminal services on the West Coast) and Logistics.”

Matson stock closed Wednesday at $46.40 before the earnings announcement.

The third quarter reflected the first full quarter of business from Matson’s new Alaska service with sailings between Tacoma, Wash., and three ports in Alaska: Anchorage, Kodiak and Dutch Harbor. Matson reported carrying 19,700 Alaska containers in the third quarter.

“The integration of our new Alaska operations continues to progress well and the business is on track to achieve our earnings and cash flow accretion expectations,” Cox said.

Matson said it had $10 million of additional selling, general and administrative expenses related to the purchase of its Alaska service after acquiring the operations from North Carolina-based Horizon Lines on May 29. The $469 million deal included three ships in active service, some backup ships and cargo terminals at three Alaskan ports.

The Alaska operations joined the cargo carrier’s two other high-volume services to increase total revenue for ocean transportation services to $444.8 million in the third quarter, up 35 percent from $329.5 million in the same period last year.

In Hawaii, Matson said, container volume increased due to a a competitor’s service reconfiguration and vessel mechanical failure as well as a modest market growth.

Matson reported carrying 41,200 Hawaii containers in the quarter, up 14.8 percent from 35,900 a year earlier. Automobile volume jumped 33.8 percent to 17,800 vehicles from 13,300 in the same period a year ago.

Matson said it got more revenue from higher freight rates in its China service. The volume on this line of business increased 5.3 percent to 15,800 containers in the quarter from 15,000 containers a year earlier.

Volume was flat in Guam and down 11.4 percent in the South Pacific, where business is relatively light compared with other Matson routes.