SEA-LAND SEES THIRD-QUARTER LOSS DESPITE PACIFIC REBOUND

   CSX Corp.’s container-shipping subsidiary Sea-Land Service reported a third-quarter operating loss of $195 million, despite increased loads in the Pacific and Asia/Mideast/Europe trade lanes and double-digit rate increases in the eastbound transpacific trade.
   The loss compares to operating income of $50 million for the
year-earlier period. Sea-Land’s third-quarter 1999 operating revenue was $1.04 billion, up 4.8 percent from the same period in 1998.
   CSX’s third-quarter results included a non-cash, one-time pretax charge of $315 million for the pending sale of Sea-Land’s international liner operations to A.P. Moller, parent of Maersk Line, for $800 million. CSX said the sale is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, pending Federal Maritime Commission approval.
   Excluding the charge, Sea-Land’s third-quarter operating income was $103 million.
   Containerload volume was down 4 percent for the quarter, to 356,641 TEUs. Gains in Asia/Mideast/Europe (up 9 percent to 72,333 TEUs) and Pacific (1 percent to 151,174 TEUs) offset a 22-percent decline in the transatlantic (69,701 TEUs) and 4-percent decline in the Americas trade (63,433 TEUs).
   Average revenue per box rose 7 percent to $2,454. In the Pacific  rates rose 18 percent to $2,878 per box. Eastbound transpacific revenue per box jumped 43 percent, offsetting an 8-percent decline in westbound rates.
   Transatlantic revenue fell 5 percent to $2,098 per box. Revenue in the
Americas declined 4 percent, to $2,158 per box, as southbound revenue per box fell 8 percent. Asia/Mideast/Europe revenue rose 5 percent to $2,177 per box.
   For the nine-month period, Sea-Land reported a $127 million operating loss, including the pretax charge. Excluding the charge, the line saw operating income of $171 million, compared to $117 million for the
year-earlier period. Operating revenue rose 1.7 percent to $2.99 billion.