Gianluigi Aponte

Gianluigi Aponte (; born 27 June 1940) is an Italian billionaire businessman, and the founder, owner and chairman of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

In 2024, ''Forbes'' estimated Aponte's net worth at $33.1 billion, ranking him as the 48th-richest person in the world.

Early life

Gianluigi Aponte was born in Sant'Agnello, Italy (near Sorrento, in the province of Naples) Additional archive
11 November 2020
on 27 June 1940.

Career

Aponte is a Neapolitan captain, who entered the shipping industry in 1970 together with his spouse, Rafaela Aponte-Diamant. At the time, the newly-formed company owned a single vessel that shipped cargo between Europe and Africa. With the growth of his business, he made a move into the cruise industry in 1988. In 2014, he retired from the position of CEO and president in favour of his son Diego Aponte, assuming the role of executive chairman within MSC. In April 2025, Aponte was reported to have been personally involved in brokering a $19 billion port deal with Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing.

He founded his company in 1970 under the name Aponte Shipping Company when he bought his first vessel, the Patricia, an old German cargo ship, the MV Patricia. The Sorrento-based ship owner thus began trading to the Horn of Africa in various types of goods.

In 1987, after the acquisition of the cruise company Starlauro, a subsidiary cruise line, MSC Crociere, was founded. In 1995, the entrepreneur also acquired the shipping company SNAV, a hydrofoil and ferry company engaged in connections with the main Italian islands.

In 2008, Forbes reported his fortune of $2.8 billion, making him the 412th richest man in the world. In 2009, he became one of the shareholders of CAI-Compagnia Aerea Italiana following the privatisation ordered by the Italian government. In the same year, he left the shareholding structure, selling his stake to the Riva Group.

In October 2010 he acquired 50% of the shares of the shipping company Grandi Navi Veloci to which he contributed three ships and the Naples-Palermo line formerly belonging to SNAV, a company of the MSC group. In November 2011 he acquired 51% share of Bluvacanze and Cisalpina Tour. In July 2015, he bought Caremar.

In October 2023, MSC's budget figures for the year 2022 are published: revenues are around USD 86.4 billion, while net profit is around USD 36.2 billion. At the same time as the publication of the balance sheet figures, the MSC group acquired 50% of Italo, a private Italian company operating in high-speed rail transport.

In November 2024, the MSC group, through its subsidiary Medlog holding Italia, closed the acquisition of 51% of Mvn, a company operating in the integrated logistics sector and managing operations for large industrial groups in Italy and worldwide. The operation marks MSC's entry into the industrial integrated logistics sector. Also in 2024, the MSC Group entered the publishing business: as of 29 September 2024, it officially owned the Ligurian daily Il Secolo XIX, which was acquired by Gedi of the Exor Editoria Group.

MSC owns or operates more than 800 container ships, with an average of around 22.5 million containers transported each year. It employs around 200,000 people worldwide, with more than 300 shipping routes and 520 port calls, and as of 2022 MSC is the world's leading cargo carrier, followed by Denmark's Maersk Line. According to Alphaliner, it is currently the world leader in maritime transport, handling just under 20% of the world's maritime traffic by 2024.

Honours

In 2009, at the Teatro di San Carlo of Naples, he received, along with Fabio Cannavaro, Ambra Vallo and others, a prize for "Neapolitan Excellence in the World" from then-Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

In 2012, he won the Cruise International Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his long term activity in the industry.

In October 2013, he received Containerisation International's Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as a knighthood, the Order of Merit for Labour, from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. The Aponte family have featured prominently in the Lloyd's List Top 100 most influential people in the shipping industry, named in the top 10 in 2014 and in position 16 in 2018.

Personal life

He is married to Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, a Swiss woman of Israeli origin, and daughter of a Geneva banker, he met when she was a passenger on a boat of which he was the captain. They have two children, Diego Aponte, who is group president of MSC and was the company's CEO from 2014 until November 2019, and Alexa Aponte Vago, who is CFO of MSC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aponte, Gianluigi
1940 births
Living people
People from Sorrento
Italian businesspeople in shipping
Italian billionaires
Italian expatriates in Switzerland
Recipients of the Order of Merit for Labour
Swiss billionaires