Matson has met its own earnings guidance despite pandemic-related challenges, in part due to solid vessel demand from China.

The Matt Cox-led boxship player, which is focused on US and China trades, posted a $32.8m profit for the second quarter, up from a profit of $18.4m during the same period in 2019.

Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.76, beating Wall Street's consensus by $0.03 and last year's EPS result by $0.33.

In early July, Hawaii-based Matson predicted a second-quarter profit between $30.4m and $32.6m.

The New York-listed, Jones Act owner attained $524m in revenue for the quarter, down from $558m a year ago due to lower revenue in transportation brokerage and freight forwarding as a result of the Covid-19 challenges.

"Matson's businesses performed well in the second quarter despite challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic and related economic effects," Cox, the company's chief executive, said.

"Overall, our performance in the second quarter was led primarily by the strength in our China service, including chartered voyages in addition to our normal weekly vessels that sailed at capacity."

Expanded China business hits full sail

The company's ocean and transportation segment's operating income reached $42.3m, up from $19.7m a year ago, thanks to lower costs and a nice boost from its China-focused CLX service.

CLX saw 68% higher volume from a year ago in China, mostly due to added volume from a supplemental China-focused "CLX+" service being brought into an already busy CLX service.

The segment's Hawaii service saw 4% less volume from a year ago, however, due to the state's Covid-19 mitigation efforts, including restrictions on tourism. The service was partially offset by volume associated with the dry-docking of one of its Pasha vessels.

Container volume in Guam was 12.5% lower due to less demand for retail-related goods as Covid-19 measures remained in effect.

Alaska's box volume fell 9% year-over-year with lower northbound volume due to less demand for retail-related goods driven by that state's Covid-19 mitigation efforts.

The second-quarter contribution from Matson's SSAT joint venture was $3.7m, up $2.8m from a year ago, due to no more costs related to early adoption of a lease accounting standard.

Operating income for Matson's logistics segment was $8.9m, or $2.4m lower compared to a year ago, due to lower volumes from transportation brokerage and freight forwarding amid Covid-19 disruption.