Nine months of positive performances has Matson confident they can close out the year strong.

The Hawaii-based shipowner posted $41.6m in profit in the third quarter and has the company confident its ocean transportation segment will beat last year's $127m operating revenue figure.

"We expect our businesses to continue to perform well in the fourth quarter, and, as a result, we are raising our outlook for ocean transportation and maintaining our outlook for logistics," said chief executive Matt Cox.