About SeaCo

Sea Containers Ltd. (SCL) engages in passenger and freight ferry services, rail operations, and marine container leasing businesses. SCL is engaged in four main businesses. The primary is ferry operations mainly involving passenger and vehicle ferry services in the Baltic Sea and English Channel. The second is passenger rail services in Britain between London and Scotland. The third is the leasing of cargo containers, principally through SCL’s GE SeaCo SRL joint venture (GE SeaCo) with General Electric Capital Corporation, to a customer base of liner ship operators and others throughout the world, and the manufacture and repair of container equipment. The fourth business is ownership of and/or investment in hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruise businesses located throughout the world through Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. SCL also engages in property development, perishable commodity production and sales, and publishing. Ferry Operations SCL provides passenger and freight ferry services in the northern Baltic Sea between Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Germany and Russia, in the English Channel between England and France, and in the northern Irish Sea between Scotland and Northern Ireland. The company also owns a commuter ferry service operating in New York harbor, and a 50 percent interest in a seasonal ferry service in the Adriatic Sea and Aegean Sea. In Europe and Scandinavia, these operations primarily involve the deployment of roll-on; roll-off (ro-ro) vessels carrying passengers and accompanied vehicles (cars, buses and trucks) and the provision of catering, retail and other services both on board and in the terminals. SCL transports cars, small buses and light trucks on all of its routes and heavier freight traffic including rail cars in the Baltic Sea. In 2004, SCL operated on a total of 15 regularly scheduled routes using 25 active vessels, and transported approximately 7.7 million passengers and 1.0 million vehicles. Fast Ferries: SCL owns four 74 meter catamarans called SeaCats. Each of the four smaller ones carries approximately 600 passengers and 70 cars, while the two superior ones carry 650 passengers and 140 cars. They feature passenger areas, shopping on board, an aft passenger deck and lounge with buffet serving light meals, and an observation deck behind the bridge. SCL also owns four 100 meter monohull fast ferries. Each transports 700 passengers and 160 cars at an operating speed of 38 knots propelled by steering waterjets. These ships are called SuperSeaCats and have passengers seating on two decks, a business class lounge, separate shops and superior food service and bar areas. Northern Baltic Sea Services: SCL acquired 50 percent of the shares in Silja Oyj Abp (Silja) which was a Finnish public company. Silja operates five cruise ferries, three combined ro-ro freight and passenger (ro-pax) ferries, two SuperSeaCats and a cruiseship, all in the northern Baltic Sea, and charters out a second cruiseship. Four of Soilja’s cruise ferries are deployed on routes between both Helsinki and Turku, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden offering daily departures from each port. One of the Turku ships calls at Kapellskar, Sweden in the fall, winter and spring instead of Stockholm. The fifth cruise ferry operated in 2004 on round trips in the summer between Rostock, Germany, Tallinn, Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia. These five ships carry a passenger capacity of 1,700 to 3,100 persons and car and ro-ro freight capacity of 700 to 900 lane-meters. Passenger amenities include on board restaurants and bars ranging from self-service cafeterias and pubs to gourmet restaurants, wine bars and night clubs, shops ranging from specialized boutiques to duty-free supermarkets, a total of 4,200 cabins ranging from single bedrooms to luxury suites, and extensive business meeting and conference facilities. Silja deploys three ro-pax ships with limited accommodation for approximately 200 to 400 passengers between Turku and Stockholm and between Helsinki and Tallinn trading as ‘SeaWind Line’. They carry approximately 850 and 1,700 lane-meters of freight including rail cars. Silja operates two of SCL’s SuperSeaCats in the spring, summer and fall on the Helsinki-Tallinn route when ice conditions permit, each making between three or four daily round trips in 90 minutes each way. Silja also owns two modern medium-sized cruiseships with passenger capacity of 600 and 1,400. Silja operates the larger ship on Baltic Sea cruises out of Helsinki to Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Visby, Sweden, and Riga, Latvia. English Channel Services: Through its Hoverspeed, Ltd. subsidiary (Hoverspeed), SCL operates three SeaCats on the shortest route to France across the English Channel between Dover and Calais during the spring, summer and fall. These offer passengers extensive shopping, cafes and bars and other travel amenities. Hoverspeed also provides a seasonal service with one SuperSeaCat between Newhaven in England and Dieppe, France, with up to three daily round trips and a crossing time of two hours. Northern Irish Sea Services: SCL operates a seasonal service with one of the SeaCats between Troon, Scotland (near Glasgow) and Belfast, Northern Ireland with three daily round trips. In July 2003, SCL sold to a third party its principal ferry subsidiary in the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. Ltd. (Steam Packet) serving Douglas on the Isle of Man from four locations in Britain and Ireland and operating a service directly between Liverpool and Dublin. Other Ferry and Related Activities: SCL's New York harbor commuter ferry service, called SeaStreak, originates from two locations near Sandy Hook, New Jersey and from a third location in South Amboy, New Jersey to public piers in Manhattan. It owns one of its New Jersey berths and leases the others, each having car parking space for commuters. Between rush hours and on weekends, SeaStreak operates special excursions and private charters with the vessels. Related to its ferry activities, SCL owns a small firm of naval architects and marine engineers called Hart, Fenton & Co. Ltd. who works on a contract basis for SCL and other shipowners. Another subsidiary called Sea Containers Chartering Ltd. acts as chartering and sales agents for shipowners including any surplus vessels of SCL not employed in its ferry services. Rail Operations SCL operates passenger trains between London and Scotland along the east coast main line of Britain through its subsidiary called Great North Eastern Railway (GNER). GNER’s customers are mainly long distance leisure and business passengers traveling between London (Kings Cross station), parts of the East Midlands and East Anglia, Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland. Covering approximately 920 route miles and calling at 52 stations, in 2003 GNER achieved 16.9 million passenger journeys. Rolling Stock: GNER operates a fleet of 42 trainsets totalling 488 cars and locomotives that travel at speeds up to 125 mph. An electric train is two first class and six standard class coaches and a kitchen/catering car, having total capacity of 530 to 550 passengers. The Eurostar trainsets are five coaches longer with 560 passenger capacity. On board catering is by over-the-counter buffet, supplemented by at-seat trolley service, with restaurant service on selected trains. The rest of GNER’s fleet consists of ten diesel trainsets. These operate approximately 17 percent of GNER’s timetabled services, principally to Aberdeen, Inverness, Harrogate, Skipton, and Hull because the routes are not electrified. A typical diesel train carries up to 540 passengers in two first class and six standard class coaches and a kitchen/catering car. Container Leasing SCL conducts its container leasing activities principally through GE SeaCo, a joint venture company with General Electric Capital Corporation (GE Capital) on a 50 percent/50 percent basis. GE SeaCo Container Activities: As of December 31, 2004, GE SeaCo had approximately 907,000 TEU of containers in its fleet, comprising 166,000 TEU leased from SCL or managed on its behalf, 345,000 TEU leased from GE Capital or managed on its behalf, and 396,000 TEU owned by GE SeaCo. GE SeaCo equipment is leases to ocean carriers based outside the United States. GE SeaCo markets its equipment for lease or sale to customers in approximately 80 countries. Other Container Activities: SCL manufactures, assembles and refurbishes containers at its own factories in Yorkshire, England, Charleston, South Carolina, and Santos, Brazil. Collectively, SCL built approximately 5,800 TEU of containers in 2004. SCL also owns and operates depots for repairing, servicing and storing idle containers in Santos and Singapore and holds minority interests in Melbourne, Australia. SCL also owns small refrigerated and tank container servicing and spare parts businesses in the United States, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. In July 2004, SCL acquired an existing perishable freight forwarding and logistics business called Cooltainer based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Cooltainer operates approximately 1,000 refrigerated containers, including ones owned by GE SeaCo and SCL, as a non-vessel operating common carrier providing door-to-door freight delivery services between New Zealand and Australia, Papua New Guinea and South Pacific islands. Orient Express Hotels (OEH): OEH, in which SCL holds a 25 percent equity interest, owns or part owns and manages 38 individual deluxe hotels internationally, three restaurants, six tourist trains and two river cruise businesses. The principal markets for guests are the United States, Europe, and Asia. Other SCL Activities: SCL owns two acres of development land and a pleasure yacht marina in the port of Newhaven on the south coast of England. SCL owns undeveloped commercial land in Houston, Texas zoned for light industrial use. It retains approximately 43 acres of the original 172-acre tract which remain for sale. SCL owns a British magazine called ‘The Illustrated London News’(ILN) that publishes occasional editions with about one-half of the circulation in Britain and one-half abroad. In addition, ILN publishes the on board magazines for SCL’s ferries and GNER and the guest magazines for OEH, and a small number of other limited circulation lifestyle magazines for third parties under contract, and ILN maintains a substantial picture library dating back to approximately 160 years to the founding of the publication. ILN staff also provides design support to the various SCL businesses, such as Internet Website development. SCL owns Fairways and Swinford Travel, Ltd.; a small licensed travel agency and tour operator based in London, which arranges corporate travel for SCL and third party customers. Significant Events In July 2004, SCL acquired container depot and service operations and logistics operations (refrigerated container forwarding) in Australia and New Zealand from the Owens Group for the purpose of expanding SCL's existing container activities in that region.