Sea Containers was a

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

n registered company which operated two main business areas: transport and container leasing. It filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

on 16 October 2006. In 2009 its maritime container interests were transferred to a new company SeaCo Ltd.

History

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

graduate and retired

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

officer James Sherwood founded Sea Containers in 1965, with initial capital of $100,000. It was later listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

. In May 1989, UK-based Tiphook launched an unsuccessful takeover bid for the company.Sea Containers grabs at a lifeline
''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' 7 May 2006 Over 40 years, Sherwood expanded Sea Containers from a supplier of leased

cargo containers Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the pro ...

, into various shipping companies, as well as expanding the company into luxury hotels and railway trains, including the

Venice-Simplon Orient Express The ''Venice Simplon-Orient-Express'' (VSOE) is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond, which operates 45 luxury hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruises ...

and the Great North Eastern Railway train operating company. Sherwood's net worth was estimated at £60million in the 2004 ''Sunday Times'' Rich List. In 2005, Sea Containers sold its 25% share in Orient-Express Hotels. Sherwood resigned from each of his companies in 2006 and was replaced by turnaround specialist Bob Mackenzie, while Ian Durant became senior vice-president of finance.

Chapter 11

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. On 6 November 2006 the

Department for Work & Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stre ...

wrote to Sea Containers that it must pay £143m into its two UK pension schemes if it wanted to wind them up. 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.

Operations

Ferry services and related businesses

* Isle of Man Steam Packet Company: fast and conventional services in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the C ...

. Acquired in 1996, sold in 2003. *

Silja Line Silja Line is a Swedish-Finnish cruiseferry brand operated by the Estonian ferry company Tallink, AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink Silja osakeyhtiö, O ...

: fast and conventional services in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. In June 2006 Silja Line was purchased by

Tallink Tallink () is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Se ...

, a ferry company from

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

. The fast

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-sta ...

service SuperSeaCat was separated from Silja Line and operated until 2008 when it went bankrupt. * Orient-Express Hotels: (25% shareholding) sold in 2005 * SeaStreak: following the Sea Containers bankruptcy of 2006, this operation was sold to New England Fast Ferry *SNAV-Hoverspeed: a joint venture with Italian ferry operator

SNAV SNAV (Società Navigazione Alta Velocità) is an Italian company that operates ferry services from Italy to Sardinia, Croatia and Sicily. Routes SNAV operates a large network of routes across the Mediterranean and Adriatic. * Naples - P ...

. Used the former ''Seacat Danmark'' as ''Zara Jet.'' * Aegean Speed Lines: a joint venture in Greece with the Eugenides Group. The service uses the former '' Hoverspeed Great Britain'' as ''Speedrunner 1'', which operated in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

and held the Hales Trophy and

Blue Riband The Blue Riband () is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. ...

for the fastest crossing of the North Atlantic. *

Hoverspeed Hoverspeed was a ferry company that operated on the English Channel from 1981 until 2005. It was formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd. Its last owners were Sea Containers; the company ran a small fleet of two high-speed Sea ...

: English Channel services ceased in 2005 * SeaCat: (

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Troon Troon is a town in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with freight services and a yacht marina. Up until January 2016, P&O ope ...

Other maritime

*Hart Fenton: a naval architecture and marine engineering company, sold to Houlder in 2006 *Sea Containers Chartering

Rail

GNER: a

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993. T ...

that commenced operating the

InterCity East Coast InterCity East Coast is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom from London King's Cross to Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. It wa ...

franchise in April 1996. After winning a further 10-year extension when re-tendered in 2005, GNER ran into financial difficulties with Sea Containers handing back the franchise in December 2007. It also bid for the

South Western franchise South Western is a railway franchise for the provision of passenger services from London Waterloo to destinations in Surrey, Hampshire, Somerset, Dorset, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Devon on the South West, Portsmouth Direct and West of En ...

in 2001 and South Eastern franchise in 2006.

Containers

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 HNA Group Co., Ltd., is a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it was involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and more. It is a part owner ...

for approximately $1 billion on 15 December 2011 and now operates as Seaco.HNA completes acquisition of GE SeaCo
''Seatrade Maritime News'' 19 December 2011

Other former activities

*Sea Containers Property Services Ltd – property development, property asset management. *

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...

Group (ILNG) – publishing *Fruit farming – Sea Containers owned plantations in West Africa and South America *Fairways & Swinford – UK-based business travel agency

Former internet property of Sea Containers Ltd

In March 2016 the domain of seacontainers.com was acquired b
World Sea Containers

References

{{reflist Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Defunct companies of Bermuda Shipping companies of Bermuda Container shipping companies Transport companies established in 1965 1965 establishments in Bermuda