Sea Containers Ltd.: Forging Forward with Fast Ferries

by Geoff. Uttmark

Follow corporate smoke far enough and long enough and it’s a pretty sure bet that one of two things will be discovered: either a group of senior executives doing a poor impersonation of a fire brigade, or a very cool management team calmly wafting away the gun smoke of a well-aimed rifle shot as the next target is contemplated. We saw the wisp of smoke left by London based, NYSE listed Sea Containers’ (symbol SCRA) acquisition earlier this year of New York harbor commuter ferry operator Express Navigation. Tracking included personal interviews on both sides of the Atlantic to learn what this minuscule $5 million acquisition by a $1.27 billion in sales behemoth might signal for the company and industry.

Sea Containers’ management is understandably circumspect at this early juncture of their first foray into the North American ferry market. We can, however, confirm for our readers that contrary to waterfront scuttlebutt, the Express Navigation deal was no casual “throw in” as part of the purchase by Sea Containers of other, larger Holyman, Ltd. assets in Europe. We know this because we searched for and found the smoking gun:

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