Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A, branded as MSC, is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970. The company is owned by the Aponte family with its headquarters in Switzerland since 1978.^[4] It is the world's largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity,^[5] controlling about 19.7 percent of the global container ship fleet.^[6]

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MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A.

Company type	Private
Industry	Shipping, air cargo, rail transport
Founded	1970; 54 years ago (1970) Naples, Italy
Founder	Gianluigi Aponte
Headquarters	Geneva , Switzerland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Diego Aponte
Services	Container Shipping and Logistics
Revenue	€86.4 billion (2022)[1]
Net income	€36.2 billion (2022)[2]
Owner	Gianluigi Aponte[3]
Number of employees	30,000 (2014)
Subsidiaries	MSC Cruises, Italo
Website	www.msc.com

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As of November 2023, MSC operates over 790 container vessels with an intake capacity of 5,505,417 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).^[7] MSC subsidiaries operate rail freight transport in Portugal and Spain, cruise ships, and cargo aircraft.

MSC operates 524 offices in 155 countries with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and has over 100,000 employees.^[7] MSC's shipping line sails on more than 215 trade routes, calling at over 500 ports.^[7] As of August 2023, it operates vessels with a capacity of up to 24,346 TEU, including the world's largest container ships such as MSC Turkiye and MSC Michel Cappellini.^[8][9]

The company is independent and wholly owned by the Aponte family under the leadership of Diego Aponte. Diego was appointed president and CEO by his father and company founder Gianluigi in October 2014.^[6] In December 2020, Soren Toft became MSC Chief Executive Officer.^[10]

Since 1989, MSC has owned the holiday cruise division MSC Cruises.^[11] In 2015, MSC started train operations by taking over the cargo division of Comboios de Portugal, and operates container trains over the Iberian peninsula.^[12] Its rail operations have later expanded to Italy and beyond, under the name Medway.^[13] In 2022, the company launched a cargo airline, MSC Air Cargo.^[14]

Mediterranean Shipping Company was founded in Naples in 1970 as a private company by seafaring captain Gianluigi Aponte when he bought his first ship, Patricia, followed by Rafaela, with which Aponte began a shipping line operating between the Mediterranean and Somalia. The line subsequently expanded through the purchase of second-hand cargo ships. By 1977, the company operated services to northern Europe, Africa and the Indian Ocean.^[6]

In 1978, the headquarters was established in Geneva, Switzerland.^[15] The expansion continued through the 1980s; by the end of the decade, MSC operated ships to North America and Australia.^[6]

In 1988, MSC entered the cruise business by buying the liner Monterey.^[11] In 1989, they purchased Lauro Lines. The new company was named StarLauro Cruises and had 2 ships, Monterey and Achille Lauro.^[16] In 1994, the company ordered its first newly constructed ships, which were delivered beginning in 1996 with MSC Alexa. They were built by Italian shipbuilder, Fincantieri.^[6] In 1995, StarLauro Cruises was renamed MSC Cruises.^[16]

In October 2014, Diego Aponte (son of MSC founder Gianluigi Aponte) was named president and chief executive of MSC, taking over from his father who was named group executive chairman. Gianluigi Aponte would continue to oversee all group related activities as well as supporting Diego in shaping the future of MSC.^[17] In December 2014, the MSC shipping line were ranked number 6 in Lloyd's List of Top 100 Most Influential People in Shipping.^[17]

In January 2015, MSC launched the largest container ship, MSC Oscar, with a capacity of 19,224 TEU. Built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and registered in Panama, it joined the Albatross service in January as part of the 2M VSA (Vessel Sharing Agreement between Maersk Line and MSC).^[18] In June 2015 Maersk and MSC signed a vessel-sharing agreement on the Asia-Europe, trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trades. The agreement is referred to as the 2M Alliance.^[19] The 2M Alliance includes 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU, deployed on 21 strings.^[19][20]

In February 2017, MSC purchased a 49% stake into Messina Line, an Italian shipping Line founded in Genoa, Italy in 1929, specialised in intra Mediterranean short sea, and Europe to East and West Africa routes. The company owns 8 Roll-on/roll-off vessels and a Terminal in Genoa port, on top of a container fleet of 65,000 teu.^[21]

In October 2018, MSC decided to charter out the only two car carriers in its fleet (MSC Immacolata and MSC Cristiana)^[22] to Grimaldi Group,^[23] replacing them on the service towards West Africa^[24] with two Messina Line – ConRO vessels: MSC Cobalto (formerly Jolly Cobalto) and MSC Titanio (formerly Jolly Titanio).^[25] The swap of these ships, that were previously deployed on MSC Adriatic Trade in between the ports of Trieste and İzmir,^[26] results in view of a tighter collaboration between MSC and Messina Line.^[27]

In September 2020, MSC's subsidiary Marinvest completed the take over of 49 percent stake in Ignazio Messina and a 52 percent stake in Ro-Ro Italia, a new company that would control four of the Messina's roll-on/roll-off container vessels.^[28] In December 2020, Søren Toft became MSC Chief Executive Officer.^[10] Søren Toft is the first person outside the Aponte family to become CEO. He would report directly to Diego Aponte, MSC Group President, and Gianluigi Aponte, founder and MSC Group Chairman. Søren Toft also became a member of the board of directors of Terminal Investment Ltd.^[29]

In January 2021, MSC was awarded the "Maritime Sustainability Passport" (MSP) Certificate and Seal by the North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA). NAMEPA's co-founder/executive director Carleen Lyden Walker staded that "By qualifying for NAMEPA's Maritime Sustainability Passport, MSC has demonstrated its commitment to stewardship of the environment, care for its employees, and responsible corporate governance".^[30] In April 2021, MSC launched a special shipping service to help the distribution of pharmaceutical products during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[31] In August 2021, Gary Keville Transport Limited obtained temporary High Court order lifting an embargo preventing it from collecting and delivering containers from Dublin port.^[32] In December 2021, MSC was reported to offer at least 5.7 billion euros for Bolloré Africa Logistics, a subsidiary of the Bolloré group.^[33] Later in December 2022, it was announced MSC had completed the acquisition of Bolloré Africa Logistics.^[34]

On 6 January 2022, MSC became the largest container shipping company in the world, surpassing Maersk, in terms of TEU capacity, according to the latest Alphaliner's figures.^[35]

In March 2023, the company broke the record of biggest container ship in the world two times in a row by receiving the 24,116 TEU MSC Tessa mega container ship on 10 March and the 24,345 TEU MSC Irina mega container ship on 13 March.^[36]

In October 2023, MSC acquired a 50% stake in Italian passenger rail group NTV.^[37]

In March 2024, it was announced the MSC subsidiary Shipping Agencies Services (SAS) had reached agreement to acquire a 42% stake in the Lyon-headquartered air and sea transport engineering and overseas forwarding and logistics company, Clasquin Group.^[38] That same month MSC acquired the Il Secolo XIX newspaper group.^[39]

In 2015, Maersk SeaLand and MSC launched the 2M Alliance, a vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) to ensure competitive and cost-efficient operations on the Asia-Europe, trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trades.^[40][41] The arrangement, which includes a series of slot exchanges and slot purchases on east–west routes, also involves Maersk Line and MSC taking over a number of charters and operations of vessels chartered to HMM. The 2M Alliance include 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU, deployed on 21 strings.^[42][43] The 2M arrangement had a minimum term of 10 years with a 2-year notice period of termination.^[40][41] On 25 January 2023, CEO Vincent Clerc of A. P. Moller – Maersk and CEO Soren Toft of MSC announced in a joint press statement that the two shipping lines would terminate the 2M Alliance in January 2025.^[40][41]

In late 2022, MSC launched a virtual cargo airline under the MSC Air Cargo brand, ordering four Boeing 777F cargo aircraft; the second aircraft was delivered in July 2023.^[14][44] Although MSC owns the aircraft and they are painted in MSC livery, they are operated under contract by Atlas Air.^[44] The other two 777F aircraft on order are expected to be delivered by January 2024.^[45]

In August 2023, MSC announced the purchase of a majority share of Italian cargo carrier AlisCargo Airlines, which began flights in 2021 and previously operated four Boeing 777 preighters.^[45][46][47] AlisCargo suspended operations and voluntarily withdrew its air operator's certificate (AOC) in 2022 due to declining air cargo rates, which made freighter operation increasingly uneconomical, and the expiration of a temporary European Union Aviation Safety Agency rule allowing cargo carriage on the main decks of passenger aircraft.^[45] AlisCargo has a new 777F scheduled for delivery in 2024 and has applied for a new AOC; once the new aircraft and the AOC are obtained, MSC plans to merge AlisCargo into MSC Air Cargo, which will then independently operate a combined fleet of five 777F aircraft.^[45][47]

Notable ships:

• List of largest container shipping companies