Continued booming business from China has led Matson Inc. to forecast a record quarterly profit.

The Honolulu-based ocean cargo carrier estimates that it will earn between $277 million and $286 million from business during the three months ended Sept. 30.

Matson’s estimate, announced Monday, would be a quarterly record and also top what the company earned during all of 2020 and 2019 combined.

“Our China service continued to see significant demand for its expedited ocean services, including the new (China-California Express) service, as volume for e-commerce, garments and other goods remained elevated heading into the peak season,” Matt Cox, Matson chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Over the first nine months of the year, Matson will have racked up over $500 million in profit largely driven by its expanded service from China.

The company has served China for about 15 years, and in May 2020 responded to extra customer demand from this market by chartering a few additional ships. Later, Matson leased six ships in addition to the five it uses in its base China service while also adding stops in Alaska to pick up seafood for delivery in Asia as a way to make more money on the return trip to China from California.

In July, Matson added a third trans-Pacific service, dubbed China-California Express, running from Ningbo to Shanghai in China and then to Oakland and Long Beach in California before heading to Honolulu and then back to Ningbo.

Matson’s profit in 2019 was $82.7 million, and jumped to $193.1 million in 2020. In the first quarter of this year, Matson earned $87.2 million, followed by $162.5 million in the second quarter.

The company said its container volume from China jumped 21.7% in the third quarter from the same period in 2020.

In Hawaii, container volume rose 11.5% for Matson in the July-September period from a year earlier. The company said the increase was primarily from higher demand in retail and hospitality industries, though this increased demand fell off toward the end of the quarter after local government officials tamped down tourism and business activity in an effort to combat a spike in coronavirus cases.

In other markets served by Matson, the company said container volume in the third quarter rose 10.7% in Alaska, 14.6% on Guam and 17.4% elsewhere including Micronesia, the South Pacific and Okinawa, Japan.

Matson, which was spun off from local real estate investment firm Alexander & Baldwin Inc. in 2012, has been using some of its exceptional profit to repurchase shares of its publicly traded stock.

The company’s board in June approved repurchasing up to 3 million shares; during the third quarter Matson reported spending $115.7 million to buy back about half the total authorized. Shares of Matson stock closed Monday at $82.67, compared with $51.04 a year ago.