Consol, Inc.

The Federal Trade Commission has approved the request of Consol, Inc. to divest the Curtis Bay Company to CBC Acquisition Corporation, a subsidiary of American Commercial Marine Service Company and an indirect subsidiary of CSX Corporation.

Consol, a joint venture between E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and RWE Aktiengesellschaft, is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Curtis Bay is a subsidiary of Island Creek Coal, Inc., and is based in Lexington, Kentucky. CSX is based in Richmond, Virginia.

Prior FTC approval of the divestiture was required by a 1993 consent order settling charges that Consol's acquisition of Island Creek (and, indirectly, Curtis Bay Company) would violate federal antitrust laws. At the time of the acquisition, both Consol and Curtis Bay owned terminals at the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, and they were the two leading providers of coal-export services in the port. Thus, the FTC alleged, by combining the companies, the acquisition could substantially reduce competition for coal-export terminal services in Baltimore. One of the provisions in the consent order to settle these charges, which was designed to restore the lost competition, required Consol to divest Curtis Bay to an FTC-approved company that will operate the terminal independently of Consol.

The Commission vote to approve the divestiture was 4-0.

Copies of the Commission's letter approving the divestiture, as well as of the application seeking that approval and other documents associated with this case, are available from the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, same address as above.

(Docket No. C-3460)