Mediterranean Shipping Company (Msc), the Italian-Swiss shipping company founded by Gianluigi Aponte, will acquire 50 percent of the South Korean company Sinokor, specialized in maritime oil transport: the value of the operation has not been disclosed, but it should be around 5 billion dollars. Ownership of Sinokor will be shared with the South Korean shipowner Ga-Hyun Chung, who previously had full control.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
The agreement is important because it marks Msc’s entry, the largest shipping company in the world, into the crude oil maritime transport market: Sinokor, in fact, owns a large fleet of tankers, more precisely Vlcc, an acronym that stands for very-large crude carriers.
According to estimates reported by Bloomberg, Msc’s entry into Sinokor will guarantee it control over about one hundred and fifty “supertankers,” or 40 percent of the global fleet, excluding ships under sanctions.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT MSC
Little is known about the financial figures of Msc and its founder and owner Gianluigi Aponte, whose fortune could exceed 37 billion dollars. The company was founded in 1970 in Naples, but is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland; it is not publicly traded.
Aponte owns 50 percent of the shares, while the other half belongs to his wife Rafaela Diamant. The chairman of Msc is Diego Aponte, Gianluigi’s son; the CEO, since 2020, is Soren Toft.
Among Msc’s subsidiaries are the cruise operator Msc Cruises; Snav, the shipowner specialized in connections between the main Italian islands, also reaching Croatia; Grandi Navi Veloci, which handles maritime connections in Sicily, Sardinia, and several European and North African countries; and Slam, a Genoese brand of technical sailing clothing. Another group subsidiary is Terminal Investment Limited, specialized in terminal management, which will temporarily manage the port of Cristobal, at the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal.
Msc also owns 49.2 percent of the railway company Italo – Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori and has acquired the entirety of the Italian air operator AlisCargo, renaming it Msc Air.
MSC’S GOAL
The agreement with Sinokor on tankers is the latest example of Msc’s plan to become an integrated logistics group, active not only in maritime container transport but also in land and air transport.
