Msc: ownership passes from Gianluigi Aponte to his sons Diego and Alexa
Keystone-SDA
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s leading Italian-Swiss container shipping group, announced the transfer of ownership from its founder Gianluigi Aponte to his children Diego and Alexa Aponte.
The transition, which took place during the last quarter of 2025, represents a significant milestone in the history of the Geneva-based company, a note explained. MSC will continue to focus on its core business, maritime freight transport, with Gianluigi Aponte retaining his role as executive chairman of the group.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Diego Aponte is Group President and Alexa Aponte is Group Chief Financial Officer. Both are Italian nationals but were brought up in Switzerland and are currently Swiss residents.
“I am incredibly proud of this historic moment. Passing ownership to my children is not only a reflection of their dedication and achievements, but also a continuation of our family’s centuries long maritime heritage. With Diego and Alexa at the helm, I am confident that our Group will continue to thrive and honour our family’s legacy of innovation, resilience, and unwavering commitment to the sea,” said Gianluigi Aponte said in a press releaseExternal link.
More
More
MSC: The secretive Geneva shipping family with the global empire
MSC is privately owned and founded in 1970 by Gianluigi Aponte. The company has 675 offices across 155 countries worldwide with a fleet of 1,000 vessels.
The MSC Group’s activities now include overland transportation, logistics and a growing portfolio of port terminal operations. MSC’s shipping line sails on 300 trade routes and calls at 520 ports, carrying some 30 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually. The MSC Group, including its cruise businesses, employs 200,000 people worldwide.
Thanks to the scale of operations of MSC, Switzerland – a country without its own sea access – has risen to become the largest container ship nation in the world. The previous global fleet leader, Germany, has fallen back to third place and China follows Switzerland in second place.
Adapted from Italian by AI/ac
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch
