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Open data · every figure carries its source

World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

A public reference property of Baalvion

Open data · every figure carries its source

World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

transport industry

Mediterranean Shipping Company

#1 container line by published capacity

Headquarters: Geneva
Founded: 1970
Employees: —

Official website

Photo: Bahnfrend · CC BY-SA 4.0 · file

Ships in this registry

Counted from individual vessel records · Wikidata

Reported fleet size

1,000

Published by the industry · Alphaliner Top 100 (via Wikipedia) · as of 2026-04-30

Container capacity

7,318,632 TEU

Published capacity · Alphaliner Top 100 (via Wikipedia) · as of 2026-04-30

Gross tonnage on record

3,213,208

Summed over 27 ships reporting tonnage

This company reports 1,000 ships while this registry holds individual records for 36. That gap is coverage, not a contradiction: open reference data documents a minority of the world fleet ship by ship. The list below is what can be named and verified.

In brief

What Mediterranean Shipping Company is

Full article ↗

Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., branded as MSC, is an international shipping line part of MSC Group. It was founded by Italian entrepreneur Gianluigi Aponte and his wife Rafaela Aponte-Diamant in Italy in 1970. The company is owned by the Aponte-Diamant 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 21.2% of global container capacity as of November 2025.
As of September 2025, MSC operates about 900 cargo vessels with an intake capacity of 7,000,000 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-Diamant 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.

Quoted from Mediterranean Shipping Company on English Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin

Who founded it

Mediterranean Shipping Company was founded in 1970 in Naples by one named founder on record. Portraits are shown only where a freely licensed photograph exists and its photographer is known.

Founder

Gianluigi Aponte

1940

Italian businessman

Photo: Airborne1901 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · file

Corporate profile

Identity and registration

Legal name: —
Industry: transport industry
Legal form: Aktiengesellschaft
Country of registration: Switzerland
Headquarters: Geneva
Formed in: Naples
Founded: 1970
Dissolved: —
Employees: —
Listed on: —
Ticker: —
ISIN
Legal Entity Identifier: 529900YG6KSURDN8CJ29
Head office coordinates: 46.2000, 6.1500

Ships on record here: 36
Vessel types operated: 1
Flag states used: 5
Average vessel age: 15.1 years
Oldest vessel on record: 1990
Newest vessel on record: 2025
Largest vessel by tonnage: 236,184
Average tonnage: 119,008
Market share: 21.6%
Parent company: —
Alliance: —
Record source: wikidata

Fleet on record

What this company sails

Composition of the 36 vessels this registry attributes to Mediterranean Shipping Company. Bars are true proportions of that set, not of the company's full fleet.

By vessel type

By flag state

By shipbuilder

Hanwha Ocean7

Samsung Heavy Industries4

HD Hyundai Samho3

Mangalia Shipyard3

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding2

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries2

Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding2

Delivery history

10-year fleet record

Ships delivered in each of the last 10 years, counted from the recorded build year of vessels attributed to this company, with the running total of its fleet on record. 14 deliveries fall inside this window.

Year	Ships delivered	Gross tonnage added	Fleet on record
2017	0	—	21
2018	0	—	21
2019	3	210,000	24
2020	1	149,525	25
2021	0	—	25
2022	1	—	26
2023	4	941,241	30
2024	2	230,532	32
2025	3	456,278	35
2026	0	—	35

Vessel records

Ships on record · Container ship

Show all types

Ship	IMO	Type	Flag	Built	Gross tonnage	Deadweight	Length	Builder
MSC Irina	9929429	Container ship	Liberia	2023	236,184	281,456	399.9 m	—
MSC Tessa	9930038	Container ship	Liberia	2023	236,078	—	399.0 m	Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding
MSC Claude Girardet	9936628	Container ship	Liberia	2023	235,651	—	399.0 m	Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding
MSC Loreto	9934735	Container ship	Liberia	2023	233,328	240,000	399.9 m	Yangzijiang Shipbuilding
MSC Gülsün	9839430	Container ship	Panama	2019	210,000	228,149	—	Samsung Heavy Industries
MSC Jade	9762326	Container ship	Liberia	2016	194,308	—	398.4 m	Hanwha Ocean
MSC Oliver	9703306	Container ship	Panama	2015	193,000	196,000	395.5 m	Hanwha Ocean
MSC Oscar	9703291	Container ship	Panama	2014	192,237	197,362	395.4 m	Hanwha Ocean
IMO 9987304	9987304	Container ship	Liberia	2025	155,104	—	366.0 m	Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding
MSC Idania	9962562	Container ship	Liberia	2024	155,084	—	366.0 m	—
IMO 9963619	9963619	Container ship	Liberia	2025	150,587	—	367.5 m	Hanwha Group
MSC Crapolla	9963621	Container ship	—	2025	150,587	—	365.9 m	Hanwha Ocean
MSC Aries	9857169	Container ship	Portugal	2020	149,525	—	366.0 m	HD Hyundai Heavy Industries
IMO 9315379	9315379	Container ship	Liberia	2006	89,776	—	317.8 m	Hanwha Ocean
IMO 9983671	9983671	Container ship	Liberia	2024	75,448	—	272.2 m	HD Hyundai Samho
MSC Geneva	9320427	Container ship	Germany	2006	62,702	54,549	275.0 m	Mangalia Shipyard
MSC Lausanne	9320398	Container ship	Liberia	2005	62,702	—	283.0 m	Hanwha Ocean
MSC Fabienne	9279965	Container ship	Panama	2004	54,774	—	294.0 m	HD Hyundai Samho
MSC Federica	8715869	Container ship	Panama	1990	52,181	—	294.1 m	Odense Steel Shipyard
MSC Carouge	9320441	Container ship	Portugal	2007	50,963	54,549	275.0 m	Mangalia Shipyard
MSC Monterey	9349796	Container ship	Madeira	2007	50,963	54,549	275.0 m	Mangalia Shipyard
MSC Angela	9351593	Container ship	Panama	2008	41,225	—	265.1 m	—
MSC Kim	9351581	Container ship	Panama	2008	41,225	—	265.1 m	—
MSC England	9232890	Container ship	Liberia	2001	39,812	—	258.0 m	HD Hyundai Heavy Industries
Celina Star	9210086	Container ship	Liberia	2001	37,113	—	243.0 m	Samsung Heavy Industries
MSC Nederland	8918954	Container ship	Panama	1992	37,071	—	237.0 m	Bremer Vulkan
Milan Trader	9239733	Container ship	Panama	2002	25,580	—	201.1 m	Nordseewerke
IMO 9839442	9839442	Container ship	Panama	2019	—	—	—	Samsung Heavy Industries
MSC Arica	9619452	Container ship	Liberia	2012	—	—	299.0 m	HD Hyundai Samho
MSC Diletta	9897004	Container ship	Liberia	—	—	—	399.8 m	—
MSC Isabella	9839272	Container ship	Panama	2019	—	—	—	Hanwha Ocean
MSC Mandy	8918966	Container ship	Panama	1993	—	—	237.0 m	Bremer Vulkan
MSC Martina	9060637	Container ship	Panama	1993	—	—	—	Samsung Heavy Industries
MSC Messina	9074042	Container ship	Liberia	1995	—	—	—	—
MSC Suez	8918978	Container ship	Panama	1993	—	—	237.0 m	Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft
MSC Washington	9908047	Container ship	Liberia	2022	—	150,000	335.0 m	Yangzijiang Shipbuilding

Ships in registry counts individual vessel records attributed to the company here. Reported fleet is the company’s published total. They measure different things and are shown separately on purpose.

In context

How Mediterranean Shipping Company compares

Counts over companies and vessels actually held in this directory — not over the world fleet, which is larger. Nothing here is estimated.

With 36 vessels attributed to it here, Mediterranean Shipping Company is the 25th largest of the 965 operators in this directory that hold at least one ship on record, against a median of 2 across that group. That is a count of individually identified hulls, not the company’s published fleet size — the two are different measurements and both are shown above where available.

Switzerland is the country of registration for 10 commercial operators in this directory, among which Mediterranean Shipping Company ranks 1st by ships on record. Between them those companies hold 81 vessels here. 1 of them carry a published container-capacity ranking. See every operator registered in Switzerland.

Founded in 1970, Mediterranean Shipping Company is 56 years old. This directory holds 116 operators founded within five years either side of that date, whose median fleet on record is 1 ships. The median founding year across all commercial operators here is 1966, and the oldest on record dates to 1514.

Provenance

Where this page comes from

Company and vessel recordsWikidata item Q869570, released under CC0. Counted figures on this page are counts over those records.

Written summaryQuoted from Mediterranean Shipping Company on English Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Published fleet figuresAlphaliner Top 100 (via Wikipedia), as of 2026-04-30. These are the industry’s numbers, not this directory’s.