Hawaii’s dominant ocean cargo hauling company, Matson Inc., produced a higher-than-expected profit in the third quarter driven by lines of business outside the state.

Honolulu-based Matson announced today that it earned $34.1 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, a 35 percent jump over $25.3 million in the same period last year.

Revenue rose just 9 percent to $544 million in the recent quarter compared with $500 million a year earlier.

The company said the increase was largely the result of stronger demand for its service in China, higher volume on ships going from Alaska to the West Coast, and the timing of fuel surcharge collections. A division of Matson that arranges ground transportation and other services also helped produce the bigger profit with contributions from a freight bundling company called Span Alaska that Matson bought in August 2016.

In Hawaii, Matson container volume declined 6 percent, and automobile shipments slipped 2 percent.

Matson said the decline in Hawaii container volume was primarily due to less construction-related materials being shipped to the state as fewer high-rise projects are ongoing now compared with a year ago.