MSC is planning to take over Maersk as the largest shipping team

It’s been 50 years – but now Gianluigi Aponte, the captain of a secret ship, is about to arrive.

The Italian business company Mediterranean Shipping Company, which was founded half a century ago, is about to take the crown as the largest group in the world, and acquire AP Moller-Maersk.

After defeating one of Danish’s top rivals and allowing a foreigner to take over the leadership role for the first time, the family group wants to focus on international prices.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to bring the two countries together,” Soren Toft, who joined the company as a senior in December after 25 years in Maersk, told the Financial Times.

“I want to take my experience, my understanding and my vision for the future and combine it with the great benefits of MSC… We have ordinary people, we have a long-term problem.”

Toft must have arrived at the right time to grow the Italian-Swiss team, which has grown exponentially, as it takes advantage of the epidemic that has provided benefits in the delivery lines behind the shipping prices mainly due to online retail sales.

The lucrative move in the transmission lines follows more than a decade of multiplication that has forced compulsion combined with a power-sharing agreement.

Although Toft insists that we are “not distracted by growth”, the company has purchased about 60 new ships since August and 43 new ships, according to Alphaliner, to show their potential.

MSC is very secretive, but its annual public revenue must be more than $ 25bn before the epidemic as it needs to grow larger than Maersk against a huge volume of new tons.

Toft, described as ambitious, thoughtful and patient with those around him, has to do well in the midst of his quest to make a mark and fulfill the line with the billionaire owner and his family.

Apontes retained the company’s decision-making authority and culture for many years as it expanded beyond freight forwarding to travel routes, destinations, within transit, security and other areas.

The founder and operator of the Neapolitan fleet was also protected by the maritime family, receiving the trust from more than 100,000 of its employees, even sending letters to invitations to nominations meetings, say people who know the company.

Another important factor for the company is its very short rule, in which Aponte participates in business decisions.

Line managers, who like to get used to their owners, meet with older brothers Saturday morning – and now Toft, who lives in the ninth room of the MSC headquarters in Geneva with three family members.

Toft is able to use his experience at Maersk to help compare business and business.

Nearly 30 years ago, Danish tourist chief Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller gradually resigned as his company began to become more transparent and efficient. “She was on a similar mission before,” says Lars Jensen, a naval expert at Vespucci Maritime.

In particular, Toft should try to make its mark by focusing its attention on redesigning global networks, rather than just focusing on refining its 215 marketing strategies. This is to ensure that the goods arrive on time and the needs of the customers are met, while the vessels are as full as possible.

They are also working to make the secret company, which has left the public in the past, more and more connected, especially on social media.

The move may be of interest in shipping due to sudden delays and rising prices and the effects of climate change.

Shippers, who design and coordinate shipping methods, and experts say MSC has a track record of service, although it is doing well in recent years.

They add that the most important thing for these new bosses is to change its old IT systems to meet these tasks and customer information, which can involve a lot of money.

Digitization is another problem for the company because it opens up retail companies to new competition from exporters using digital technologies as well as Amazon and Alibaba.

“The proliferation of retail outlets is alarming. If someone offers you a place on your ship, then you should take it, ”said Stephen Cotton, secretary general of the International Transport Workers’ Federation. “They don’t want to be in danger with a leading company.”

Another problem with Toft is how to reduce emissions. The group was the sixth polluter in Europe in 2020 when coal-only crops emitted more CO2, according to the NGO Transport & Environment.

The chief executive is taking an active interest in the matter, warning of recent EU climate change measures that he says could change its focus on air quality.

They support global taxes, but believe these companies do not know when the lowest oil prices will be available.

The group also had to meet some unscrupulous individuals when it was discovered that MSC was the largest of the $ 6.8bn Credit Suisse bond tied with Greensill, a group that collapsed.

MSC said there was no problem from the $ 321m related to the fifth fund. “It’s a thing of the past, we’ve developed everything we need to solve,” Toft said.

With the exception of Greensill, researchers and investors are thinking about the company’s share, the fourth-largest in the world, and the impact it has on the entire team when the sector is hit by the epidemic.

However, the huge gains in shipping this year could put the companies under the control of others, while there is little indication of the group’s demands.

“We’re seeing a number of areas where we still have a lot of highway ahead of us,” Toft said.