Business Notes PACIFIC TRADE

The freighter of the future will skim across the water at nearly 60 m.p.h., as fast as Don Johnson's speedboat in Miami Vice. But the craft will be 265 ft. long and carry as much as 1,000 tons of cargo. Last week the Japanese government decided to develop such a freighter for commerce between Japan and its Asian neighbors.

The proposed Techno-Superliner, 2 1/2 times as fast as any current container ship, would be propelled by water jets and powered by gas-turbine engines. Advocates of the liner (estimated cost: $79 million) hope it will revive Japan's flagging shipyards. Further in the future: a Techno-Superliner that could run from Japan to the U.S. in three days.