Sea Containers
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| Industry | Passenger transport Leisure Marine container leasing |
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| Founded | 1965 |
| Headquarters | Hamilton Bermuda London United Kingdom |
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Key people
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Robert MacKenzie (CEO & President) James B. Sherwood (Chairman) |
Sea Containers Ltd. was a Bermuda-registered company which operated two main business areas: transport and container leasing. The company filed for bankruptcy on 16 October 2006. In 2009 its maritime container interests were transferred to a new company SeaCo Ltd, with the winding down and liquidation of the remainder of the group continuing.
Yale University graduate and retired United States Navy officer James Sherwood founded Sea Containers in 1965, with initial capital of $100,000. 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 franchise from London to Edinburgh.
Although valued with a net worth of £60million in the 2004 Sunday Times Rich List, as Sea Containers hit financial troubles, he resigned from each of his companies in 2006.
In March 2006 the company sold its share of Orient-Express Hotels.
In March 2006, Sherwood resigned from all positions in the various Sea Containers Companies. Sherwood was replaced by company doctor Bob MacKenzie, while Ian Durant became senior vice-president of finance.
Despite selling various businesses and asets, Sea Containers announced in early October 2006 that it was unlikely to be able to pay a $115m (£62m) bond due up on 15 October. On 16 October, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The documents revealed that Sea Containers has paid Sherwood $500k, MacKenzie just under £1.4m, and Durant £1.1m.
On 6 November 2006 the UK Pensions regulator wrote to Sea Containers that it must pay £143m to its two UK pension schemes if it wants 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.
On March 24, 2006 Sea Containers announced its intention to withdraw from the ferry business. These were:
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