What is the importance of shipping and logistics companies, you may ask? The need for shipping and logistics companies worldwide is for the easy and efficient transport and operation of goods in large containers traveling to and from locations of vast distances between them.
Many companies and businesses around the world require the movement or transport of goods, resources, and products to different locations quickly and safely. For example, imported or exported food products, equipment, livestock, vehicles, bulk cargo, etcetera. These goods are transported in various ways such as through air, land, and sea or the country’s transport infrastructure.
Along with good logistic operations and supply chain management, a shipping company with energy-efficient vessels can deliver satisfying, positive, expert, and professional services. With the use of technological advances in the world, the inclusion and transformation of digitalization in shipping, and the use of technology in logistics, the various strategies for achieving innovation in the maritime industry are met.
Therefore in this article, we will be exploring the journey of one such company that started as a one-ship transport operation to a globally leading organization that is recognized in more than 150+ countries. As the founder of this independent, family-owned, and not-for-profit organization business, and being the Group Chairman as well as having an experienced education and career as a Captain – Gianluigi Aponte, has successfully managed to make his mark in the transportation of goods, resources, and products for the maritime industry.
Captain Gianluigi Aponte – Founder, CEO and Group Chairman:
Captain Gianluigi Aponte is the founder of the world’s leading shipping and logistics business and company – The Mediterranean Shipping Company SA (MSC). Having an education in the Italian Maritime Academy, Gianluigi Aponte graduated to help his family business. He operated many passenger ferries in the Mediterranean as the Captain of his vessels.
“Ours is a business built on a genuine passion for the sea and unfaltering commitment to people and communities.” – Founder, Gianluigi Aponte.
Gianluigi Aponte left his family business for a while to work as a Banker, to take a break. After this, the Captain eventually came back to work in the maritime industry to embrace his roots. This was where his globally leading business started. In the year 1970, Gianluigi Aponte started with a one-ship maritime transport operation in Brussels, Belgium, which has since led the business to diversify and grow in their operations and services.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company SA (MSC):
MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company SA) – founded in the year 1970, has its headquarters established in Geneva, Switzerland. The family-owned business currently has over 800 vessels, transporting and shipping containers through 300 routes and 520 ports. Operating for over 155 countries around the globe, in over 675 established offices, and employing a power-driven workforce of around 200+ thousand employees, MSC annually carries and transports around 22.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). The business has also included air cargo transport operations using 5 aircrafts.
“Our staff are the lifeblood of the company, they have commitment, passion and loyalty…”
– Founder, Gianluigi Aponte.
Overseeing container shipping and logistics solutions, cruise lines, passenger ferry services, in-land and port terminal transportation and infrastructures, air cargo and digital business solutions, as well as cargo cover solutions, MSC has adopted the purpose of providing services that are based on sustainable shipping.
Purpose – ‘to connect the world, while fostering inclusive social prosperity and economic growth, whilst also respecting and nurturing the home we all share – our Blue Planet’.
Striving to continuously work towards a Net-Zero Transition, MSC has opted to build its foundations in carbon footprint reduction and therefore has a primary hand in promoting the enabling of decarbonizing logistics. With the focus on carbon neutrality, climatic and environmental concerns are taken into utmost importance and regard when overseeing their business operations.
MSC understands its clients and customers and adopts tech-savvy strategies to provide good logistics services that cover global Intermodal transportation as well as Warehousing and Storage facilities and services for countries with the use of eBL (electronic Bills of Lading), EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and SMART cargo containers that have features in monitoring, detecting, tracking, securing, and optimizing, proves to be very beneficial in today’s time.
Curated specifically to their needs and requirements so that the appropriate type of transport, shipping, and containers are used for clients and customers, various shipping solutions are implemented. The Dry Cargo shipping solution covers anything from paper, agriculture, metal, hazardous goods, and food products, as well as rare and precious cargo items. The Reefer Cargo shipping solution covers all of the frozen and refrigerated goods and products fresh and temperature-optimized.
The Out-of-Gauge Cargo shipping solution covers goods and products that do not fit into standard-sized shipping containers and opts for adopting special care and use of equipment in securing and transporting the same. Trade Services for transatlantic and transpacific routes are also considered for global shipping and transportation services. The Liquid Cargo shipping solution for bulk liquid transport uses special eco-friendly options of Flexitanks and Flexibags. The Cargo Cover Solutions are provided to clients as there are chances of accidents happening while transporting and shipping goods. For this, there are Extended Protection and Marine Cargo Insurances provided for In-land and Maritime.
To Conclude:
The Mediterranean Shipping Company SA (MSC), founded in the year 1970 by Captain and CEO – Gianluigi Aponte, in Geneva Switzerland, also offers digitalized business solutions to book, manage, track, and monitor the transporting goods and containers in real-time, which in turn gains the trust and loyalty of their customers. Striving towards sustainability and innovation, the MSC Foundation takes up projects such as Supporting Humanitarian Relief and providing logistics services and funding from 2011 to Mercy Ships.