Gianluigi Aponte, MSC Group president and owner has received London Cruise International Lifetime Achievement Award. This highly prestigious award was accepted by Giulio Libutti, Managing Director MSC Cruises UK and Ireland on Mr Aponte’s behalf.
Liz Jarvis, editor of Cruise International said. “We are delighted to bestow upon Gianluigi Aponte this well-deserved honour. Under his guidance MSC Cruises has become one of the world’s leading cruise companies; that it has done so in such a relatively short period of time is testament not only to Mr Aponte’s expertise, but to his extraordinary vision.”
Gianluigi Aponte founded MSC Cruises in the late 1980s and in just two decades he has seen his company grow to the world’s fourth-largest cruise operator with modern fleet. Aponte began his career as a captain in the family owned company, which operated a fleet of sailing boats on the Mediterranean. After several years in the banking sector, he formed the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). Under his leadership, MSC is now the second largest container ship company in the world, employing more than 40,000 people with a fleet of 441 cargo ships serving 306 ports deployed in five continents.
