Third-quarter results confirms profit recovery at Matson

Third-quarter results confirms profit recovery at Matson    A 49-percent rise in operating income from ocean transportation activities in the third quarter, to $25.1 million, confirmed Matson Navigation Co.’s profit recovery after two years of declining results in 2001-2002.
   The latest quarterly result from ocean transportation compares with an operating income of $16.9 million in the third quarter of 2002.
   For the first nine months of the year, Matson’s ocean transportation operating income soared by 82 percent, to $60.4 million, from $33.2 million in the corresponding period of 2002.
   “Matson has regained its operating momentum, returning to profitability levels necessary for long-term investment in the business,” said Allen Doane, president and chief executive officer of Alexander & Baldwin, the parent company of Matson.
   The parent company said that, with improved results in the third quarter, ocean transportation operating profit “has returned to levels that had been reached last in mid-2000, prior to the effects of Sept. 11 and West Coast labor disruptions.”
   Traditionally one of the most profitable container shipping lines, the U.S. Jones Act shipping line earned an annual operating income from ocean transportation of $93.7 million in 2000. For the year 2002, though, its ocean transportation operating profit was down to $42.4 million.
   In the third quarter, ocean transportation revenue at Matson increased by 6 percent, to $191.6 million. The number of containers shipped on its Hawaii route rose by 4 percent, to 41,300, but the volume of automobiles on the same route was down 8 percent, to 29,900.
   “Higher revenue and operating profit in the third quarter of 2003 were due mainly to rate actions taken in 2002 and 2003, higher freight volumes in the Hawaii and Guam services, an improved mix of freight, and improved results from the operations of joint ventures,” Alexander & Baldwin said. Matson was also affected by increased operating costs, including the expense of operating an eighth vessel in the Hawaii service, and higher pension costs.
   During the third quarter, Matson introduced the U.S.-built, U.S.-crewed “Manukai,” the first new containership in the carrier’s fleet in more than a decade.
   In the third quarter, Matson’s operating profit from logistics and intermodal services
was $1.4 million, the same as in the year-earlier period. Revenue from logistics and intermodal services during the latest quarter reached $60.8 million, up 13 percent over the same quarter in 2002. The company recently announced that Matson Intermodal System, Inc., would be renamed Matson Integrated Logistics, Inc.
   Alexander & Baldwin reported a group net income of $21.7 million in the third quarter, up from $17.8 million in the same quarter of 2002. The Honolulu-headquartered Alexander & Baldwin conglomerate trades in ocean transportation and intermodal services, property development and management, and food products.