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A headquarters without a company nameplate, business figures remain secret: The shipping company MSC, which wants to join the Hamburg port operator HHLA, avoids the public – and is the world market leader.
Lots of greenery, well-kept residential complexes, doctor’s offices and private clinics, big cars on the side of the road – the Champel district is one of the better districts of Geneva. Life here is quiet and tranquil, ideal for well-off families with small children – and obviously also for the family business MSC.
The “Mediterranean Shipping Company” resides in an elegant, shimmering green glass building without a classic company sign. “MSC” is only written on the model of a container ship, which can be seen on the ground floor behind the reflective glass facade.
Discretion or lack of transparency?
The world’s largest container shipping company started small. In 1970, the Italian company founder Gianluigi Aponte bought a used cargo ship – and set out on a course of expansion. Continuously and, above all, discreetly: several interview requests from the ARD-Studios in Geneva came to nothing, and the MSC Group doesn’t even publish sales figures.
Gianluigi Aponte – the “Commandante” of MSC
The large shipping company MSC, with its fleet of more than 700 ships, is entirely family-owned. One half of the company shares belong to the company founder Gianluigi Aponte (83), the other half to his wife Rafaela. With an estimated fortune of $29.4 billion, Gianluigi Aponte is currently ranked 49th on Forbes’ list of the richest people in the world. Aponte, who started out as a sailor and became a captain, is MSC’s Executive Chairman, his son Diego President. His wife Rafaela is responsible for equipping MSC Cruises’ cruise ships.
“Lack of transparency is now not limited to MSC. It is an essential feature of the shipping industry,” says lawyer Kathrin Betz. She is an expert in white-collar criminal law and co-author of the book “Maritime Nation Switzerland”. “I think it’s MSC’s model that they’re very concerned about discretion,” Betz speculates. “It could also simply be that they don’t want to be looked at in their business.”
Shipping is a highly competitive market. “It’s not transparent, but I can’t say that it’s a legal problem. Sure, people would like to know more. But legally they don’t have to.” Because MSC is not listed on the stock exchange.
Beneficiary of the pandemic
“Our company is based on a real passion for the sea,” says the company’s website on the Internet. But the real sea is a long way from the elegant Geneva headquarters. Instead, there are other location advantages, says Betz. “It is an advantage for the company that other companies that it needs are based in Geneva – logistics companies, insurance companies, banks,” says the industry expert. In addition, there is a favorable tax environment. “These are the two points why Geneva is attractive as a location for MSC.”
Corona was particularly profitable for MSC. Supply chain issues and consumer demand caused container freight rates to skyrocket. The Geneva shipping company became the world market leader – and overtook the Danish company Maersk. “There was a pretty strong growth spurt again during the pandemic,” confirms Betz. “During this time, MSC has effectively overtaken Maersk as the largest container shipping company.”
Drug trafficking poses problems for shipping companies
The dark sides of MSC’s corporate history include problems with drug trafficking, which the shipping company has repeatedly struggled with in the past. According to a Bloomberg report, the shipping company was literally infiltrated by the drug mafia. In June 2019, almost 20 tons of cocaine were seized from a container ship seized by US authorities. The drug was worth around $1.3 billion, making it the largest drug discovery by US customs to date. In light of the allegations, MSC faces a fine of $700 million.
The shipping company claims to be a victim of organized crime itself – and says it is a world leader in the fight against smuggling. Lawyer Betz says that as a white-collar criminal lawyer, she still has questions – if not related to a specific case, but certainly with regard to the lack of transparency: “Who actually puts all the money into shipping? Who invests in it? Do we know that exactly? Are “Is it all clean money that flows into it?”
No longer just interested in ships
One thing is certain: regardless of existing problems, the shipping company is expanding its business model. It is no longer just ships that the expanding shipping company is investing in, but increasingly also ports – see HHLA in Hamburg – and logistics. MSC bought the African business of the French Bolloré group in 2022 for more than six billion dollars and now has a logistics division called “Africa Global Logistics”.
Regarding the group’s calculations, MSC boss Soren Toft told the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” a few weeks ago: “Having the largest fleet, the most investments and the largest network helps us to be competitive.” But, Toft asserted, “greatness in itself” is not a goal.