[ MSC Won the First Prize in Lloyd’s Loading ... ]

MSC Won the First Prize in Lloyd’s Loading List Customer Service Poll

The decision of the majority of respondents to the Lloyd’s Loading Li
st customer service poll to select Mediterranean Shipping Co(MSC) as t
heir Shipping Line of the Year is a small but pleasing feather in the
cap for the Feneva0based company.
The rise of MSC to near-flobal status has been astonishing, and there
was little to suggest when its first liner service between the Mediter
ranean, South and East Africa was launched in 1972 that within 25 year
s it would rank among the world’s top ten container carriers.
The company’s founder, Captain Gianluigi Aponte, is still very much a
t the core of MSC’s activities, and a relatively high proportion of h
is top management―many with a seafaring bankground―have been with th
e company for many years, giving a stability which is rare in tobay’s
liner industry.
The fleet has been largely built up by an astute strategy of second-ha
nd purchases, the bargain prices enabling MSC to operate profitably at
rate levels which its establishment rivals would once never have envi
saged. Many of the former owners of MSC’s still perfectly adequate sh
ips have looked on in dismay as it has extended its liner service netw
ork to almost every corner of the world map.
It has been interesting and instructive to watch the changing fortunes
of liner companies, and MSC’s own role in the changing liner shippin
g environment.
Some of the former owners of MSC ships have now withdrawn from the ind
ustry, and its fierce rivals in the shipping establishment have grudgi
ngly accepted its presence and acknowledged its status as a fearsome c
ompetitor, in several cases swallowing their pride and forging vessel-
sharing partnerships with the upstart.
In recent times, MSC has added aj twist to the tale. Its bold entry to
the Europe/Far East trade was actually accompanied by its first newbu
ildings, the 3,300teu MSC Alexa and MSC Rafaela, and a third large shi
p, MSC Don Giovanni, was bought new from a German shipyard during 1996
.
The company’s geographic expansion continued apace in the course of t
he year. Besides the Europe/Far East service―which also includes link
s to the Middle East Gulf, India and Pakistan via Jebel Ali and Colomb
o―new routes between the Mediterranean and West Africa, and between S
outh/East Africa and the Middle East Gulf/South Asia were added.
The latter route also connects South/East Africa with the Far East via
transhipment in Colombo, an example of the interaction of MSC’s many
separate links. The Mediterranean has become a key transfer area, and
services within the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and into the Black Sea a
nd Red Sea were all built up considerably duirng 1996.
Several ports play a significant role as transhipment hubs in the MSC
network, and among them is Felixstowe, where the Medite Shipping Co(UK
) Ltd welcomes on average over one MSC mainline ship per day. Not surp
risingly, MSC is actually the Port of Felixstowe’s largest customer,
with around 250,000 boxes handled in 1996.
Credit for this achievement, and for the popularity of MSC, must be gi
ven to all the staff of MSC.