MSC 2014: founder's son Diego Aponte took the helm and dethroned Maersk

Gianluigi Aponte, a former ship's captain, and his wife Rafaela founded MSC in Italy in 1970 and built it from a single line into the world's number two container carrier — always chasing Maersk, which had led the industry for a quarter of a century. In October 2014 the founder passed the presidency and CEO job to their son Diego Aponte and moved himself up to group executive chairman, staying alongside his son.

Diego's years in charge were defined by an appetite his listed competitors could not match. Privately owned, MSC kept ordering — newbuilds from Korea's Daewoo like the 19,224-TEU MSC Oscar in 2015, then ever-larger ships, and second-hand tonnage through the freight-cycle dips. In December 2020 Diego moved himself up to group president and handed daily operations to Soren Toft, poached from Maersk, the first chief executive from outside the Aponte family.

The endgame came in the shipping boom. On 6 January 2022, Alphaliner's figures put MSC at 4,284,728 TEU against Maersk's 4,282,840 — the top position changing hands for the first time in more than 25 years, sealed by a 4,992-TEU ship that had until recently been on charter to Maersk itself. MSC's orderbook was already more than three times Maersk's, so the gap was set to widen: the challenger that inherited the throne kept buying.

MSC passed Maersk in January 2022 at 4.28M TEU, ending 25 years of Maersk rule; its orderbook was three times larger, locking in the lead.

Private family ownership let MSC order ships and buy second-hand tonnage through market lows without answering to shareholders for idle capacity.

The 2014 split of roles — Diego in the CEO chair, the founder watching over the group — avoided the two-bosses conflict that derails many handovers.

Hiring Maersk's own former COO in 2020 imported the incumbent's operating discipline just as MSC's scale overtook its rival's.

The 2M alliance with Maersk gave MSC network economics while it was still number two, funding the growth that later made the partnership unnecessary.

A handover can accelerate: the heir kept the founder close as chairman, hired his rival's COO to run operations, and used family patience to buy ships through downturns listed rivals couldn't stomach.

MSC's lead never reverted: by late 2025 the line controlled about a fifth of global container capacity and became the first carrier past seven million TEU. In 2026 the Aponte family completed a formal transfer of ownership from Gianluigi to the second generation, Diego as group president and his sister Alexa Aponte Vago as group CFO, with the founder staying on as executive chairman — a second generational handover executed as calmly as the first.