Swiss Shipping Surge: How One Family Transformed an Industry

A single family has propelled a landlocked European nation into the ranks of the world’s top shipowning countries.

Gianluigi Aponte’s Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has undergone an unprecedented fleet expansion throughout the 2020s.

The company has acquired over 400 secondhand container ships and commissioned more than 3 million TEU of newbuilds, cementing its position as the world’s leading liner operator. This remarkable growth has also made the Aponte family—originally from Italy—the wealthiest in Switzerland.

According to the latest rankings from VesselsValue, the online vessel valuation platform, Switzerland has now secured ninth place among the top 10 shipowning nations by total asset value. This achievement is largely due to MSC’s dominance in both the container shipping and cruise sectors.