Mediterranean Shipping Company

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 the suburb of Champel, Geneva, Switzerland, since 1978. It is the world's largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, controlling 20% of global container capacity as of July 2024.

As of March 2025, MSC operates about 900 cargo vessels with an intake capacity of 5,505,417 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). MSC subsidiaries operate rail freight transport in Portugal and Spain, cruise ships, and cargo aircraft.

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. In December 2020, Soren Toft became MSC Chief Executive Officer.

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.

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

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

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. In December 2014, the MSC shipping line were ranked number 6 in Lloyd's List of Top 100 Most Influential People in Shipping.

In January 2015, MSC launched the world 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). 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. The 2M Alliance includes 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU, deployed on 21 strings.