 | |
| Industry | Passenger transport Leisure Marine container leasing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1965 |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Fate | liquidated |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | Bob Mackenzie (CEO & President) James Sherwood (Founder) |
| Website | www.seacontainers.com |
Sea Containers was a Bermudan registered company which operated two main business areas: transport and container leasing. It filed for bankruptcy on 16 October 2006. In 2009 its maritime container interests were transferred to a new company SeaCo Ltd.[1]
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Yale University graduate and retired United States Navy officer James Sherwood founded Sea Containers in 1965, with initial capital of $100,000.[2] It was later listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In May 1989, UK-based Tiphook launched an unsuccessful takeover bid for the company.[3]
Over 40 years, Sherwood expanded Sea Containers from a supplier of leased cargo containers, into various shipping companies, as well as expanding the company into luxury hotels and railway trains, including the Venice-Simplon Orient Express and the Great North Eastern Railway train operating company. Sherwood's net worth was estimated at £60million in the 2004 Sunday Times Rich List.[4]
In 2005, Sea Containers sold its 25% share in Orient-Express Hotels.[3]
Sherwood resigned from each of his companies in 2006[3] and was replaced by turnaround specialist Bob Mackenzie, while Ian Durant became senior vice-president of finance.[5]
Despite selling various businesses and assets, Sea Containers announced in early October 2006 that it was unlikely to be able to pay a $115m (£62m) bond due on 15 October. On 16 October, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[6]
On 6 November 2006 the Department for Work & Pensions wrote to Sea Containers that it must pay £143m into its two UK pension schemes if it wanted to wind them up.[7]
On 11 February 2009, its maritime container interests were transferred to a new company SeaCo Ltd, with the wind-down and liquidation of the remainder of the group continuing. The major shareholders in the new company were the former Sea Containers Ltd bondholders and two of the group's UK pension funds.[1]
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GNER: a train operating company that commenced operating the InterCity East Coast franchise in April 1996. After winning a further 10-year extension when re-tendered in 2005,[11] GNER ran into financial difficulties with Sea Containers handing back the franchise in December 2007.[12][13] It also bid for the South Western franchise in 2001 and South Eastern franchise in 2006.[14][15]
The company's container leasing business was conducted mainly through GE SeaCo, a joint venture with GE Capital formed in 1998. GE SeaCo was sold to the HNA Group for approximately $1 billion on 15 December 2011 and now operates as Seaco.[16]
In March 2016 the domain of seacontainers.com was acquired by World Sea Containers.