Shipping operator Horizon Lines Inc., the state's second-largest ocean shipper, posted a wider loss than expected as container rates fell and fuel and contract-labor costs rose.

For the quarter ended March 21, Horizon lost $13.2 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with a loss of $10 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding charges for legal expenses and severance costs, Horizon said its adjusted loss was 39 cents a share. Analysts on average expected an adjusted loss of 25 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose to $ 286.1 million from $272.4 million a year earlier, beating analysts' forecast of $276.7 million.

Horizon said volume improved slightly in March and April largely due to Hawaii and Alaska, which were up a couple of percentage points in March and April, said Charles G. Raymond, Horizon's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“;After a slow start to what typically is our weakest quarter of the year, overall volume turned slightly positive in March, a trend that has continued in April,”; Raymond said. “;We also managed costs well, and our overall market share appears to be holding steady.”;

But the shipping company said it faced rate pressures, high fuel costs and higher contractual-labor costs compared with last year's first quarter, and it expected those trends to continue.

The company said its full-year financial performance would be similar to 2009, with modest recovery of business in Hawaii and stabilizing trends in Alaska.

John V. Keenan, senior vice president and chief operating officer, said that “;the economic recovery is beginning to take hold”; in Hawaii and Guam.

Star-Bulletin reporter Allison Schaefers contributed to this story.