Alexander & Baldwin Inc. had net income for the third quarter of $8.5 million, or 21 cents per share.

That compares with net income of $36.8 million, or 89 cents per share the year before.

Revenue was $375.9 million, or $80 million below year earlier totals.

Chairman Allen Doane said: "The loss in agribusiness, while anticipated, was painful." That sector lost $13.8 million, as a result of years of drought that have driven down output at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.

The conglomerate is feeling the impact of the world financial crisis, especially in real estate sales and its logistics services businesses. However, Doane said ocean transportation and real estate leasing performed "relatively well."

Net income for the first nine months was $24.1 million, compared with $108.5 million in the first nine months of 2008.

Revenue was $1 billion, down almost $450 million.

"In response to the difficult economic environment, we have taken necessary measures across all of the business units to better align our cost structure with the realities of today's conditions. These efforts are producing tangible results," Doane wrote in remarks released along with the results Thursday.

"As a result, we have trimmed outstanding debt by $33 million through the first nine months of the year, leaving ample

capacity to make what may be significant investments over the course of the next

18 months in distressed real estate

development opportunities and in an expansion of our transportation services," he wrote.

Containers carried in Matson Navigation Co.'s Hawaii service dropped to 35,110, compared with 39,900 in the third quarter of 2008. For the year-to-date, containers moved by the Hawaii service total 101,900, compared with 116,800 in January-September 2008. The decline of about 15 percent tracks other measures of Hawaii's shrinking economy, such as general excise tax receipts and visitor head counts.