EXHIBIT 99


                                                              SEA CONTAINERS LTD
                                                                    NEWS RELEASE




            SEA CONTAINERS ANNOUNCES THE DECISION IN THE ARBITRATION
                              RELATING TO GE SEACO



Hamilton, Bermuda, May 3, 2006. Sea Containers Ltd. (NYSE: SCRA and SCRB,
www.seacontainers.com) received on April 28, 2006 the decision in the
arbitration regarding its dispute with GE Capital relating to GE SeaCo, the
container leasing joint venture established between the Company and GE Capital
in 1998. The arbitrator ruled that GE SeaCo suffered damages with respect to
four of the fifteen alleged breaches of the Services Agreement by which Sea
Containers provides certain services to GE SeaCo. These four breaches concerned
(i) GE SeaCo's administration or management of the Company's containers on
leases with customers in countries subject to U.S. trade controls, (ii) the
calculation of the amount of office rent charged to GE SeaCo, (iii) the costs
related to certain swapbody containers GE SeaCo purchased from a factory of Sea
Containers, and (iv) the allocation between the Company and GE SeaCo of
consulting fees paid to a former GE SeaCo officer.

The arbitration award directs the parties to attempt to agree upon the amount to
be reimbursed to GE SeaCo as a result of these four breaches. The arbitrator
rejected claims by GE Capital that GE SeaCo was entitled to recover the fees
paid to Sea Containers since the inception of the joint venture and that GE
SeaCo was damaged by other alleged breaches of the Services Agreement. Based on
assertions made by GE Capital during the arbitration and taking into account the
amounts Sea Containers has already repaid to GE SeaCo to cure any alleged
breaches, the Company expects the additional amount that it will be required to
pay will be less than $13 million, although GE Capital recently stated that it
believes the additional amount exceeds $15 million. If the parties are unable to
agree on the amount of damages, the arbitrator will decide the issue after
receiving further submissions from the parties. The economic effect of the
Company's payment of additional damages to GE SeaCo will be partially offset
because a large portion of that payment will inure to Sea Containers as a result
of its ownership interest in GE SeaCo.

In addition, based on the four breaches described above and two additional
breaches of the Services Agreement which did not result in damages to GE SeaCo,
the arbitrator ruled that the Services Agreement would be deemed terminated on
May 28, 2006. The Services Agreement allows GE SeaCo, at its option, to continue
the agreement for up to one year. The economic impact of the



termination of the Services Agreement cannot be quantified at this time. The
arbitration award also requires the Company to pay the arbitration costs of GE
Capital, including reasonable attorneys' fees.

                                      ENDS


For further information:

Lisa Barnard
Director of Communications, Sea Containers group of companies
Tel: +44 207 805 5550
Email: lisa.barnard@seacontainers.com

Investor Relations enquiries:
William W. Galvin III, The Galvin Partnership
Tel: +1 (203) 618 9800
Email: wwg@galvinpartners.com