WALL STREET JOURNAL SAYS SEA-LAND/MAERSK DEAL MAY BE NEAR

    Two newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, have reported that
CSX Corp. could announce as soon as this week the sale of Sea-Land Service’s international container shipping operations. to the Danish A.P. Moller group.
    The Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the situation,"
said the sale could involve about $800 million in cash and assumption of
debt.
    The Charlotte Observer reported Saturday the possible sale of Sea-Land’s international operations to A.P. Moller, the parent company of Maersk Line, the world’s largest liner shipping company. Sea-Land’s international division accounts for most of the U.S.-flag $3.9 billion in annual revenue.
   A.P. Moller and CSX Corp. both declined to comment.
    The sale of Sea-Land to Maersk has been rumored since the two lines
expanded their vessel sharing alliance in mid-1996. In March, when CSX
reported that Sea-land would be divided into three separate business units
— to better manage the divisions, CSX president, CEO and chairman John
Snow said — industry insiders considered Sea-Land’s sale a done deal.
Sea-Land’s three divisions are:
* International container shipping, operating 84 ships worldwide.
* U.S. domestic container shipping, operating 16 ships between the U.S.
mainland and Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
* Terminal operations, covering 26 terminals, including profitable
facilities in Hong Kong; Rotterdam; Singapore; Elizabeth, N.J.; Algeciras;
Long Beach; and Tacoma.
    In 1991, Sea-Land and Maersk formed the first major carrier alliance
under the Shipping Act of 1984.
Maersk operates nearly 160 vessels.
    Maersk’s and Sea-Land’s international capacity combined would be nearly twice as large as any operator in the industry.