Diego Aponte: “MSC will continue to avoid the Strait of Hormuz to protect its crews”

“As long as the situation in the Strait of Hormuz remains as it is, we won’t be sending our ships in – that much is certain.” These are the words of Diego Aponte, chairman of MSC and son of the group’s founder. Now, he continues, “we need to see what happens in the other strait, the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, because it seems they opened fire on two ships this morning, and so everything is becoming more complicated now, both for oil tanker traffic and for container ship traffic. We, however, are continuing to sail via the Cape of Good Hope; we’re not taking any risks whatsoever to safeguard our crews, which is what matters most. Let’s see how it all turns out.”

Aponte, who heads the world’s leading container shipping company, spoke on the sidelines of the handover ceremony for the cruise ship Explora III (part of MSC Cruises’ Explora Journeys brand), built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Genoa. Focusing not so much on the event itself as on the state of the cargo sector, the shipowner highlighted the group’s emissions reduction policy, which is also applied to container shipping. On the one hand, “with cold ironing” (i.e. supplying electricity from shore to moored ships) and “obviously,” he added, “also with all ships running on LNG, and therefore dual-fuel. I think we have set the direction, at least for the container ship sector, and I believe that, even if LNG won’t take us to zero, it will still give us a good 25 per cent reduction in emissions. Which, in my view, is already very significant, given our order book for new vessels: it will certainly make a very positive contribution to the environment’.

As for the number of vessels on order, “I won’t give you a figure,” Aponte told those asking him to put a number on it, “we’re deliberately keeping it flexible. “In any case, there are quite a few ships – around 130.” He went on to add that MSC will continue to invest in the acquisition of port berths. “Any terminal,” he said, “is important for our group, so we will continue to invest.”

The shipowner also said he was ‘optimistic’ about the container market: ‘Our industry is linked to GDP and, as you know, to demographics. So, as long as GDP and the population are growing, the container shipping sector, in my view, is doing well. Obviously, we’ll have to see how this geopolitical situation plays out; if the straits reopen, there will naturally be a bit more shipping capacity on the market, but I’m not worried.”

On the possibility of sailing the Arctic route, Aponte is categorical: ‘It is a misguided and environmentally hazardous course of action. We will always be opposed to it and, therefore, we will not be taking the Arctic route.’ Finally, regarding the EU’s position on the revision of the ETS, “mistakes have been made,” says the shipowner, “nothing has been voted on yet and it will be discussed at the end of the year. But the issue raised regarding the ports has not been resolved.”