Gianluigi Aponte passes the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to his son Diego Aponte who becomes president and CEO of the shipping group founded in 1970 The father will not go away but he was appointed chairman of the board of directors. "It's an exciting time - said Gianluigi - we already have a number of ongoing projects that will help improve our overall service. The Board and I are absolutely convinced that Diego, supported by its senior management, will achieve new successes for Msc. " Confident in the comments rite also Diego: "MSc has a wonderful heritage. Over the last forty years my father has founded and led Msc who began operating a single ship to become the second-largest container shipping company in the field of the world. He has created a prestigious global brand. All MSc inspires passion, dedication and entrepreneurial spirit. The management team, together with his family, will continue to work hard to maintain today Msc so extraordinary as it was in 1970. " A Brief History of Mediterranean Shipping Company (via). The first company founded by captain Gianluigi Aponte, born in Sorrento in the province of Naples in 1940, was the Aponte Shipping Company in 1969 when he bought his first container ship Patricia. The following year, renamed Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the company buys the container Rafaela, with which Aponte start the first scheduled service between the Mediterranean and Somalia. In 1977 Msc start a container service between North Europe, Africa and the Indian Ocean. The expansion of continues for the 80s, where at the end of the decade, the group ships also operate in North America and Australia. In 1987 he purchased the fleet of STARLAURO Cruises another Neapolitan ship owner, and former mayor of Naples, Achille Lauro. In 1995 it was renamed MSC Cruises. Today, the group Mediterranean Shipping Company based in Geneva and is the second owner in the world after the Danish Maersk Line. Opera with about 500 ships, including 200 owned, with a total capacity of 2.5 million TEUs. The ships on order are about 50 with a total capacity of 600 thousand TEUs. If the Maersk meanwhile not add other ships with this portfolio Msc will be used to reach it. There is a special competition between the two companies, since they are quite similar in size, when added together make not less than 70% of the world container market, and are also trying to form an alliance. Msc today has about 350 offices around the world employing around 29 thousand people. In 2007 the company was awarded the shipping line of the year by Lloyds Loading List for the sixth time in eleven years, an achievement unmatched by any owner. The last centers have been opened in India in 2008 and Cyprus in 2009, both from the new president and Diego Aponte. In March this year MSc ordered two new cruise ships of the last generation by 5 thousand passengers, excluding crew, the French Saint-Nazaire shipyard STX France. In May, he made his first order to an Italian shipyard, Fincantieri (the orders of the company were almost always Staint-Nazaire): Two ships 700 million euro each. In August, MSC Cruises has launched a recruitment plan that expects to employ other six thousand people.