Sea Launch to Move Offices to Long Beach

Sea Launch Ltd., the international communications satellite launching company that is 40% owned by Boeing Co., said it will move its headquarters from the Cayman Islands to Long Beach. The company already has its ocean-going launch platforms and technical support in Long Beach, a company spokeswoman said. The partners voted to move the management to Long Beach as well in order to improve efficiency, the company said. Sea Launch expects to be operational in Long Beach by the end of September. Sea Launch came to the Cayman Islands with great fanfare in 1997. The absence of direct taxation in the British Caribbean territory was a major reason for the move. But Sea Launch ran into problems with the U.S. government over the exchange of sensitive satellite and launch information with its Russian and Ukrainian partners. The Caymans are also an expensive place to live because nearly everything must be imported, so salaries were about twice what Sea Launch will have to pay in the U.S., a company official speaking on condition of anonymity said. Sources said Boeing, with its heavy dependence on U.S. government contracts, was pressured into moving the company to the U.S., where its books will be open to taxpayer scrutiny and it will be subject to taxation.