Back to drawing board on Navieras. (Navieras de Puerto Rico)

Bankers Trust group pulls out, leaves future of Puerto Rico carrier up in air again.

After years of trying to privatize Puerto Rico's government-owned ship line, it appeared that the commonwealth was within two weeks of being out of the shipping business.

But the future of Navieras de Puerto Rico was left in a familiar state of confusion when BT Investment Partners, a subsidiary of Bankers Trust New York Corp., abruptly withdrew from sale negotiations just days before the deal was scheduled to be closed.

The government development bank, Banco Gubernamental de Fomento Pars Puerto Rico, issued a statement saying the government would continue to try to sell …