Giant Container Ships and Luxury Cruise Ships

Starting in 1970, Capt. Gianluigi Aponte has built MSC into the second biggest container line in the world, and later added a very successful cruise line of a dozen large luxury cruise ships. MSC was a relative latecomer to the container transport industry, as was Maersk Line of Denmark, which built its first container ship in 1974 and is now number one in the world. Gianluigi Aponte was born in Sorrento on 27th June 1940 and raised on the Piano di Sorrento, a sheltered plain with a gentle climate celebrated by the Romans, on the southern Sorrentine peninsula of the beautiful Bay of Naples. On the north side of the Sorrentine peninsula lies the big Castellammare di Stabia yard of Fincantieri with two building berths, which has recently completed several large cruise ships and ferries such as the Grimaldi Mediterranean ferries Cruise Roma, Cruise Barcelona, Cruise Europa and Cruise Olympia, all of 54,310 gt. The stunning and enchanting Amalfi coast is on the south side of the Sorrentine peninsula, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, famed for the production of lemons, anchovies, marquetry and ceramics.

The father of Gianluigi Aponte was Aniello Aponte, a partner with the Savarese brothers in the ferry company Navigazione Libera del Golfo, specialising in links from Naples to the islands of Ischia, Procida and Capri. In post-war years, this company owned five ferries, including the steamer Isola di Capri of 1,210 grt built back in 1925, and sailing to the beautiful Marina Grande harbours on Capri and Procida and Porto Ischia on the third island of Ischia. Gianluigi Aponte trained at the Instituto Tecnico Nautico Statale Nino Bixio in Naples and became the Master of one of the ferries owned by his father, operating to the beautiful islands of the Bay of Naples. The ferry company had an office at the Molo Beverello in Naples, next to the Stazione Marittima, where the deep sea liners of Italia Line berthed. Directly across the harbour road from these two piers is Castel Nuovo (New Castle), so named as there is a nearby older Castel dell’ Ovo on the Naples waterfront. Castel Nuovo is a Gothic castle, whose construction began back in 1279 for Charles I and his son Charles II of Anjou. The architects were Pietro de Chaul and Pietro de Agincourt, and the castle features an unusual façade with a later medieval white centre inserted between massive round grey towers.

However, the ambitions of Gianluigi Aponte were far greater than Bay of Naples ferries, and at the age of thirty years in 1970 he set up MSC in Geneva. Borrowed capital of $5,000 was sufficient to begin trading a second hand engines aft former German cargo ship of 1,750 grt built in 1955 at the Meyer yard in Papenburg. He renamed her Patricia and traded her for three years in the Mediterranean to Somalia general cargo trade, together with his second ship, the former four hold Magdeburg of Hapag of Hamburg built in 1952, acquired in 1971 and named after his wife, Rafaela. The Mediterranean services were extended in 1977 to North West European ports including Hull, and in 1978 liner services were begun from Italy to the Indian Ocean, South Africa and East Africa. His third ship of 4,953 dwt had been acquired in 1973 from Norddeutscher Lloyd as Lahnstein and had been built in 1951 by the famous Bremer Vulkan yard at Vegesack. She was renamed Victoria S and had dimensions of 120 metres in length, 15.27 metres beam, and 6.4 metres draft, with six holds and six hatches served by thirteen derricks including a heavy lift derrick of thirty tonnes capacity. She had a service speed of 15 knots and could operate to East African and South African ports.

A total of a further twenty five general cargo ships and cargo-liners were then owned or chartered until 1985 for these services. Space does not permit mention of every vessel, but they included four big cargo-liners purchased from Messageries Maritimes of France, as well as from wellknown Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish and German owners, and notably the former cargo-liner Ivernia, built in 1964 at the Caledon yard for Cunard Line and renamed Philippa. Containers were carried as deck cargo on the East and South African routes and soon ships that could carry many more containers were needed. Durban was the MSC hub of South African services, with MSC vessels by 1992 accounting for 30% of port activity.

In 1985, the MSC fleet size was ten general cargo ships, all carrying names of girls, and six converted bulk carriers that could carry larger numbers of deck containers together with a row of secured and lashed containers in the bottom of the holds. They included the former Lambert Brothers bulker Temple Arch of 22,000 dwt built by the Horten Werft yard in Norway in 1969 and renamed Leila. She could carry several hundred containers after conversion but retained her deck cranes, whereas the other quintet of bulkers had their deck cranes removed to increase container and revenue capacity. This quintet of bulkers came from Italian, Norwegian and Swedish fleets, and was very successful in moving larger numbers of containers to gain MSC a foothold in the worldwide container trades e.g. the Transatlantic trades to East Coast U.S.A. ports, which MSC entered in 1985, and a South Africa to Australia service in 1989 which later became a main Europe to Australia service via South African ports.

Second Hand Container Ships

The MSC shipping empire was totally built up with second hand tonnage, including useful second hand British multi-purpose and container ships such as Manchester Challenge and Manchester Courage dating from 1969 from Manchester Liners, and Banbury dating from 1971 from Houlder Brothers, both members of the Furness, Withy Group. Banbury had been completed in December 1971 by the famous Scott’s yard at Greenock with eight pedestal cranes serving her five holds and nine hatches and a service speed of 18 knots from a seven cylinder Sulzer diesel. She was renamed Presidente Aguirre Cerda by MSC in 1992 for a South American service operated jointly with Lineas Empremar of Chile, but two years later she was renamed MSC Elena until broken up in 2001. The British built C P Voyageur of Canadian Pacific Steamships was chartered between 1995 and 1997 as MSC Rebecca, and the Tyne built container ship Dunedin completed in 1980 saw out the end of her career in MSC livery as MSC Jessica between 2001 and her arrival at Alang for scrapping on 6th June 2009.

The Transatlantic container trade had begun in 1985 served by some rather small feeder container ships of between 450 TEU and 650 TEU capacity, with two former Dutch ships renamed as Alexandra and Starfield, and two ships chartered from Klaus Oldendorff as Mediterranean Star and Mediterranean Sun. Five former Hansa Line heavy lift ships, Goldenfels, Stockenfels, Sternenfels and Gutenfels, were purchased and renamed Ariane, Francesca, Emilia S and Valeria respectively. Their twin Stulcken heavy lift cranes of 75 tonnes capacity came in very handy on the North American and South American services. The Transatlantic sailings increased from one ship per week to two ships per week in 1992. Another ship used was the 16,000 dwt twin funnelled cargo ship Turmalin, built in 1972 at Bilbao, purchased from Lauro Line of Naples. She was renamed MSC Aniello after the father of Gianluigi, and could carry 335 TEU of containers as deck cargo, lifted on and off by fifteen heavy lift derricks including two of 70 tonnes capacity. She was renamed MSC Daniela in 1999 when a much larger new container ship entered service as MSC Aniello, and the former Lauro cargo ship was broken up in 2006.

Seven former Italian container ships of 1,500 TEU capacity were purchased in 1989 with Lloydiana, Africa, Mediterranea, Nipponica and Europa from Lloyd Triestino and Americana and Italica from Italia Line. Americana and Italica were the first MSC containerships to receive ‘MSC’ prefixes to their names in 1989 as MSC Sabrina and MSC Chiara respectively. Four of this septet were used on a North Europe to Israel service, which by 1992 had captured 30% of the trade. Four second hand container ships of 1,100 TEU capacity came from Hapag as Leverkusen, Ludwigshafen, Hoechst and Erlangen, and were renamed as MSC Anastasia, MSC Giulia, MSC Michele and MSC Mee May respectively. In 1990, MSC became the first tenant of the new Seagirt container terminal in Baltimore to boost their Transatlantic service. A major transhipment hub was later opened at Freeport in the Bahamas, 65 miles from Miami, handling one million TEU of containers per year on the Atlantic, U.S. Gulf and South American trades. Slot charter arrangements made with Hyundai in the North Atlantic trades increased the number of containers shipped.

In 1992, MSC was trading thirty owned second hand general cargo and container ships, with twenty of these now having ‘MSC’ prefixes to their names. One of the exceptions was a chartered container ship named Sextum of 27,073 gt and 1,454 TEU capacity built in 1980 at Genoa as Ercole Lauro of Lauro Lines. She was taken on charter by MSC in 1982 and remained on charter to MSC for a remarkable nineteen years until sold in 2001 to Far Eastern owners. She had a high service speed of 22.5 knots from twin twelve cylinder Grandi Motori Trieste diesels of 44,800 bhp which may have been the reason for her long charter. The biggest second hand container ships in the MSC fleet had been built in 1971/72 and were MSC Insa ex Elbe Maru, MSC Pamela ex Kitano Maru, and MSC Claudia ex Kamakura Maru. All of the trio could carry more than 3,000 TEU of containers and were used in the Atlantic and South American services of MSC.

In 1996, MSC was trading a total of 55 second hand owned general cargo ships and container ships. The container ships were MSC Alice (ex Oriental Statesman), MSC Alexa (ex Geyerfels), MSC Alexandra (ex Oriental Chevalier), MSC Anastasia (ex Leverkusen Express), MSC Aurora (ex Gruenfels), MSC Barbara D (ex Palladio), MSC Chiara (ex Italica), MSC Carmen (ex Pancaldo), MSC Carla (ex Nihon), MSC Clorinda (ex Ace Concord), MSC Diego (ex Ville de Saturne), MSC Daniela (ex Africa), MSC Dominique (ex Chevalier Valbelle), MSC Eliana (ex Hai Mou), MSC Federica (ex Europa), MSC Giovanna (ex Lloydiana), MSC Giulia (ex Ludwigshafen), MSC Gina (ex Malmros Monsoon), MSC Insa (ex Elbe Maru), MSC Jade (ex S.A. Langeberg), MSC Lauren (ex Oriental Patriot), MSC Luisa (ex Mediterranea), MSC Maeva (ex Mercator), MSC Maria Laura (ex Nipponica), MSC Michele (ex Hoechst), MSC Mee May (ex Erlangen), MSC Mirella (ex Australian Exporter), MSC Regina (ex Antonia Johnson), MSC Rita (ex Hong Kong Container), MSC Rosemary (ex Oriental Educator), MSC Sabrina (ex Americana), MSC Samia (ex Verranzo Bridge), MSC Stefania (ex Hakozaki Maru), Sextum (ex Ercole Lauro) and POL America (ex Italica).

The Purchasing Department of MSC paid very low prices for elderly, second hand tonnage, and even purchased one ship that had already been sold for scrapping. This was S.A. Langeberg built in 1977 for Safmarine, which had originally been set up with South African Government money. She was a constructive total loss with damaged engines and other problems in 1992, and was purchased from the brokers for the scrapyard. She was sailed from Singapore to Durban to begin South African trading, but on arrival became embroiled in a legal dispute. The South Africans did not want the ship redeployed on the same routes by a rival company, but a legal ruling later that year went in favour of MSC and the ship was renamed MSC Jade to allow her to trade to South Africa from 1992 to 1999, when she was finally scrapped. A joint venture operated with Polish Ocean Lines from 1994 and ended five years later in 1999 with two MSC container ships having been used. These second hand container ships had a variety of hull colours, usually black, but also blue, red and even a pink hull, the latter was the chartered MSC Vitoria ex Contship Germany and seen by myself at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in April 1998. One hundred second hand container ships with a variety of hull colours in the handy range from 1,500 TEU to 3,500 TEU capacity were purchased or chartered during the years 2001 to 2004.

New Container Ships

The first new container ships were delivered to MSC in 1996 as MSC Rafaela and MSC Alexa of 3,300 TEU capacity. They were completed by the Fincantieri yard at Ancona and immediately went into service on the new MSC Europe to Far East service. They had lengths of 244.2 metres, beam of 32.25 metres, and drafts of 13.22 metres with six cellular holds and a dozen hatches. A high service speed of 23 knots was obtained from a seven cylinder two stroke Sulzer diesel of 30,200 bhp in order to maintain the high speed and high reliability demanded on the Far East service. They were named after the wife of owner Gianluigi Aponte, Rafaela, and his daughter, Alexa, who later became Head of the MSC Cruise Department. Far Eastern ports of call included Singapore, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yokohama, and Seoul. The third MSC container ship on the Far East trade in 1996 was MSC Don Giovanni of 2,480 TEU, which had been launched as Jean Lykes at a German yard and was purchased during fitting out.

The MSC Far East route had feeder links to the Persian Gulf, India and Pakistan from Colombo and Jebel Ali. However, 1996 was also very notable for MSC as it also started Mediterranean to West African services, South and East African services from Jebel Ali and Colombo with transhipment to the Far East, and improved Mediterranean, Adriatic, Black Sea and Red Sea services. The first new trio of container ships to the Far East were the start of a frenetic building programme by MSC, mostly dictated by the economics of size as well as competing container lines in the Far East trade that saw the sizes of MSC container ships increase by leaps and bounds in classes of 4,200 TEU (1999), 5,050 TEU (2001), 6,750 TEU (2002), 9,178 TEU (2005), 8,200 TEU (2006), 14,100 TEU (2009) with huge container ships of over 16,000 TEU capacity now coming into service. These big jumps in new MSC container ship sizes are now described by their classes:-

4,200 TEU Class

A class of six newbuildings from the Hanjin yard at Pusan in South Korea for the Europe to Far East service including several Chinese ports. This service was named the ‘MSC Silk’ service, and this class comprised MSC Regina, MSC Diego, MSC Gina. MSC Aniello, MSC Sandra and MSC Alyssa. They have lengths of 260 metres, beam of 32.25 metres, and drafts of 13.22 metres with six cellular holds and fourteen hatches. A high service speed of 24 knots was obtained from an eight cylinder two stroke Sulzer diesel of 38,400 bhp.

5,050 TEU Class

A class of ten newbuildings from the Hyundai shipyards in Busan and Samho for MSC worldwide services including four slightly different Far East loops denoted as Silk, Lion, Dragon and Tiger loops. This class comprised MSC Linzie. MSC Lisa, MSC Emma, MSC Ans, MSC Eleni, MSC Ela, MSC Nerissa, MSC Ornella, MSC Fabienne and MSC Poh Lin. They have lengths of 295 metres, beam of 32.25 metres, and drafts of 13.55 metres with six cellular holds, one hold being abaft of the accommodation block. A high service speed of 24 knots was obtained from a nine cylinder two stroke B & W diesel of 55,900 bhp.

6,750 TEU Class

A class of seventeen Post Panamax newbuildings from the Daewoo yards in South Korea, and were in service on the Far East service from September, 2001. This class comprised MSC Alessia, MSC Barbara, MSC Flaminia, MSC Florentina, MSC Ilona, MSC Loretta, MSC Laura, MSC Luisa, MSC Ludovica, MSC Maureen, MSC Melissa, MSC Michaela, MSC Marianna, MSC Marina, MSC Stella, MSC Viviana and MSC Vanessa. They have lengths of 304 metres, beam of 40 metres, and drafts of 14.5 metres with eight cellular holds, one hold being abaft the accommodation block. A high service speed of 24.8 knots was obtained from a ten cylinder two stroke B & W diesel of 77,633 bhp.

9,178 TEU Class

A class of twenty Post Panamax newbuildings from the Samsung Heavy Industries yards at Keoje Island in South Korea. This class comprised sixteen owned vessels with girls names, and four chartered vessels with place names, giving a very easy system of immediately knowing whether an MSC containership is owned or chartered. The owned vessels were MSC Pamela, MSC Asya, MSC Candice, MSC Esthi, MSC Fiorenza, MSC Ines, MSC Joanna, MSC Madeleine, MSC Maria Elena, MSC Pina, MSC Sindy, MSC Susanna with four owned vessels being stretched to 11,212 TEU on the design board and completed as MSC Francesca, MSC Ivana, MSC Luciana and MSC Sola. The chartered vessels are MSC Bruxelles, MSC Chicago, MSC Lisbon and MSC Roma. The 9,178 TEU version have lengths of 337 metres, beam of 46 metres, and drafts of sixteen metres, with a twelve cylinder two stroke MAN-B&W diesel engine of 93,092 bhp to give a service speed of 25.25 knots. The 11,212 TEU version have lengths of 364 metres, beam of 46 metres, and drafts of sixteen metres, and a more powerful diesel engine of 93,325 bhp to give a service speed of 24.8 knots.

8,200 TEU Class

A class of twenty Post Panamax newbuildings from the Hyundai yards in South Korea, with equal numbers being owned and chartered. The class comprised MSC Heidi, MSC Judith, MSC Lucy, MSC Maeva, MSC Rachele, MSC Rania, MSC Rita, MSC Rosalba, MSC Silvana, MSC Belgium, MSC Beijing, MSC Bilboa, MSC Busan, MSC Charleston, MSC Paris, MSC Texas, MSC Tomoko, MSC Toronto, MSC Valencia and MSC Vittoria. They have lengths of 334 metres, beam of 43 metres, and drafts of fifteen metres. A huge MAN-B & W diesel engine of 68,640 bhp gives a maximum service speed of 25.4 knots.

14,100 TEU Class

A class of fifty Super Post Panamax newbuildings from the Samsung and Daewoo yards at Keoje Island in South Korea. The class comprises MSC Alexandra, MSC Beatrice, MSC Benedetta, MSC Beryl, MSC Bettina, MSC Camille, MSC Clorinda, MSC Cristina, MSC Daniela, MSC Danit, MSC Deila, MSC Eva, MSC Emanuela, MSC Flavia, MSC Gaia, MSC Irene, MSC Kalina, MSC Katie, MSC Katrina, MSC Lauren, MSC Laurence, MSC Maria Saveria, MSC Melatilde, MSC Paloma, MSC Renee, MSC Rosa M, MSC Sonia, MSC Teresa, MSC Valeria, MSC Vandya with MSC Bari, MSC Genova, MSC La Spezia, MSC Livorno, MSC Rapallo, MSC Ravenna, MSC Savona, MSC Taranto and MSC Trieste as chartered vessels. They have lengths of 366 metres, beam of 51.2 metres, and drafts of sixteen metres, and are powered by a twelve cylinder two stroke MAN-B & W diesels of 98,218 bhp to give a service speed of 24 knots. Their accommodation blocks are placed ‘midships, with the engine room and twin funnels aft. Chartered units also include ten ships, MSC Altair, MSC Ariane, MSC Aurora, MSC Capella, MSC Regulus, MSC Vega, MSC Fabiola, MSC Faustina, MSC Filippa and MSC Filomena, on charter from NYK and Peter Dohle of Germany with a beam reduced by three metres and thus carry one thousand containers less than the majority of the class. MSC Beatrice and others of this class are the largest ships of any company to operate on the Transpacific trades, which had been entered by MSC in 1998 with chartered tonnage. Six years later, the service operated from four ports in the U.S.A. and Canada to six ports in Japan and China.

Container ships continued to be built in smaller sizes to suit other trades than the Far East trade e.g. MSC Fiammetta, MSC Krystal, MSC Oriane and MSC Soraya and their sisters were completed in 2008 of 5,600 TEU. A dozen new container ships were built by the Daewoo Mangalia yard in Roumania in 2007 of 4,860 TEU capacity including MSC Carouge, MSC Cordoba, MSC Geneva, MSC Leigh, MSC Monterey, MSC Nuria and MSC Rosaria. Large container ships continued to be purchased second hand e.g. in 2002 Saudi Jeddah, Saudi Yanbu and Saudi Jubail of 5,050 TEU capacity were purchased from the National Shipping Corporation of Saudi Arabia and renamed MSC Ingrid, MSC Sarah and MSC Matilde respectively. These are big ships in their own right, having been completed during Millennium year by the Samsung yard at Keoje Island in South Korea. They have lengths of 295 metres, beam of 32.25 metres and draft of 13.55 metres with a B & W diesel of the same power as the class of this size built for MSC by Hyundai.

This massive MSC newbuilding programme increased the fleet to seventy owned container ships during Millennium year, 150 owned container ships at the end of 2004, 402 container ships in 2008 (220 owned and 182 chartered), and 431 owned and chartered container ships in 2011, and continues to increase in size. The MSC market share of the world container market has increased substantially from 3.3% in 2001, to 7.7% in 2005, and currently stands at 13.3% with a fleet of 2.37 million TEU at second place in the world table behind APM-Maersk Line with 14.5% of the world container ship market. Large container ships are also on charter from Costamare of Greece, E. R. Schiffahrt, Peter Offen, Peter Dohle and Bernard Schulte of Germany, Seaspan Marine Corporation of North Vancouver, Zodiac Maritime Agencies of Ofer Brothers of Israel, as well as other Greek, Danish, Singapore and Hong Kong owners.

This huge MSC container fleet is controlled from a headquarters office in Avenue Eugene-Pittard in Geneva on the banks of the Rhone. It employs 350 people, of which one third have come from the Sorrentine peninsula area of Naples and the towns of Sorrento and Meta, the same home area of the MSC President, Gianluigi Aponte. MSC serves 270 ports on six continents worldwide with 350 local offices providing a worldwide agency network employing 29,000 people. The large MSC European Home terminal is in Antwerp, which is currently being extended. The container transhipment hub in Gioia Tauro near Reggio di Calabria in Southern Italy, was used by Maersk Line for ten years with a throughput of 3.7 million TEU per annum, but suffered a change in strategy in July, 2011 when Maersk Line withdrew, leaving only a single feeder ship to call. MSC then purchased the Medcenter terminal at Gioia Tauro in January, 2012 but has only now begun to use it. MSC, CMA CGM and Eurogate are partners in the new Eurogate Tanger Terminal in Morocco.

MSC deep-sea container ships call daily at Felixstowe from Far East, Transatlantic and other worldwide destinations, the latter often on vessel sharing agreements and slot charter agreements. MSC is the largest customer of Felixstowe, and MSC feeder vessels call such as the former Russian owned and Rostock built MSC Eyra, MSC Grace, MSC Hina, MSC Iris, MSC India, MSC Malin, MSC Maria and MSC Patricia, operating to Baltic ports. There is a weekly direct service from Helsinki, Kotka and St. Petersburg to Teesport on Sundays, and a fortnightly service from other Scandinavian and Baltic ports to Felixstowe and other British ports. A weekly feeder service from Valencia and Cartagena operates to Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp and Le Havre. Two small MSC feeder vessels are MSC Anna and MSC Isabelle of 475 TEU and purchased from Spliethoff’s of Holland as Palmgracht and Prinsengracht. The prize for the oldest and smallest member of the fleet, however, goes to MSC Trader of 858 grt with almost fifty years of trading since completion at Frederikshavn in 1968. She was purchased in 1996 by MSC and carries general cargo and a few deck containers as a feeder vessel in the Black Sea.

MSC Ship Casualties

MSC has had more than its fair share of major marine casualties, due to the fleet being composed of elderly general cargo and container ships, with the first new trio of container ships only being completed in 1996. However, many accidents are caused by navigational or weather related causes, and the toll of major MSC losses and casualties has continued unabated since 1996. There have been many relatively minor incidents e.g. the loss of a few containers overboard, spillage of bunkers, or discharge of oil contaminated bilge water etc, and at least seven MSC vessels have become total losses:-

Rafaela caught fire in the English Channel in 1978 and was towed back to Antwerp where she was declared a total loss and was broken up at Temse in Belgium.

Rafaela (2) caught fire in her cargo in number four hold at Mombasa on 19th November 1981 and was burnt out, and broken up ‘in situ’.

MSC Lucy suffered a fire in her engine room on 9th October 1995, spreading to the accommodation while berthed at Darsena Toscana quay Leghorn, vessel extensively damaged and five crew seriously injured.

MSC Carla broke in two 100 miles from the Azores on 24th November 1997 while on a voyage from Le Havre to Boston. Forepart sank immediately with the loss of a thousand containers, aft part towed to Las Palmas and then Gijon, where it was scrapped. Vessel broke in two at the weld line when she was lengthened as the Swedish vessel Nihon in 1984.

MSC Rosa M listed due to human error on 30th November 1997 just outside Le Havre in Seine Bay after sailing from Le Havre. Vessel deliberately grounded to undertake pumping operations to correct list, refloated and sailed to Cherbourg for cargo to be reloaded, some containers damaged.

MSC Sabrina collided with a fishing boat and then the British flag reefer Wintertide on 13th June 2000. Later aground in the St. Lawrence river on 8th March 2008 close to Trois Rivieres, lightened of containers by MSC Jasmine and refloated on 4th April 2008.

MSC Napoli suffered a cracked hull and a severe list in the English Channel at the beginning of 2007 and was deliberately grounded in Lyme Bay. She had been built in 1991 as the largest container ship in the world by the South Korean yard of Samsung as CGM Normandie of 4,688 TEU capacity for CGM French Line. She had seven cellular holds and seventeen hatches with a service speed of 24 knots from a ten cylinder Sulzer diesel engine of 55,060 bhp. In 2001, when named CMA CGM Normandie, she ran aground at full speed on a reef in the Singapore Strait while on a voyage from Port Kelang to Jakarta and remained stuck for several weeks. She was refloated and repaired in Vietnam but her weakened structure and repair may have contributed to her subsequent cracked hull in the English Channel. The huge operation to offload her cargo of containers from the two halves of the split hull and the salvage of the forepart cost a staggering £50 million. The stern section was cut up for scrap in situ, a very bad end to a voyage that had started in Antwerp for Lisbon and Cape Town with a very valuable cargo of machine tools, luxury cars and powerful motorcycles, empty wine casks, perfume and spare parts. She was on charter to MSC from Ofer Brothers of Israel.

MSC Prestige collided with tanker Samco Europe on 7th December 2007 in the Red Sea separation channel off Bab el Mandeb, both vessels suffered severe damage to their bows and underwent major repairs. The collision was widely reported to have been caused by the misuse of VHF radio. When repaired vessel was renamed MOL Prestige.

MSC Nikita collided off Rotterdam with Nirint Pride on 29th August 2009 and suffered a hole in her engine room, and was subsequently towed into Rotterdam, no casualties suffered.

MSC Chitra collided in Jawaharlal Nehru Port with Khalijia III on 8th August 2010 causing three hundred containers to fall into port waters. This port and the nearby Mumbai port were closed for several days until all of the containers had been salvaged or no longer posed a danger to shipping.

MSC Flaminia caught fire in the North Atlantic on 14th July 2012 following explosions and was abandoned with the loss of two of her 25 crew. She belonged to the 6,750 TEU class and had only been in service for less than eleven years.

Rena was a chartered ship from Costamare of Greece and ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga in New Zealand on 5th October 2011 at her full speed of 17 knots. She remained firmly aground for over a month and eventually broke in two with the loss of all of her containers, making her the worst maritime loss ever in New Zealand waters.

MSC Cruise Ship Fleet

A current MSC fleet of a dozen large cruises is operated from Genoa, which are multilingual, multinational and multicultural ships with a great deal of Italian style, décor and cuisine onboard. They appeal to passengers who like city life, late night shopping, late night bars and clubs, glitzy entertainment, and stylish living in general. Public announcements are made in five languages, but are kept to a minimum, except for boarding and disembarkation. No guest lecturers are carried, and the ships are primarily patronised by Italian, Spanish and French passengers, except for the Northern European cruises from Southampton, Amsterdam or Copen-hagen. The dozen cruise ships are split into three classes :-

MSC Lirica Class of four ships

MSC Lirica was delivered in March 2003 from the Chantiers de l’Atlantique yard in St. Nazaire, followed by MSC Opera in May 2004. Two exact sisters from the same yard were purchased in 2004 from the bankrupt Festival Cruises as European Vision and European Stars and renamed MSC Armonia and MSC Sinfonia. The four sisters have accommodation for 2,213 one class passengers on dimensions of 251.25 metres length, beam of 28.8 metres, and draft of 6.56 metres. They have cruising speeds of 24.3 knots from four Wartsila diesel electric oil engines driving four generators, two electric motors, and two Azipod type propellers.

MSC Musica Class of four ships

MSC Musica was delivered in June 2006 from the same St. Nazaire yard, then owned by Akers Marine, followed by MSC Orchestra in April 2007, MSC Poesia in March, 2008, and MSC Magnifica in February, 2010. The four sisters have accommodation for 3,605 one class passengers on dimensions of 294 metres length, beam of 32.2 metres, and draft of 7.85 metres. They have twelve passenger decks and cruising speeds of 22 knots from five Wartsila diesel electric oil engines driving five generators, two electric motors and two Azipod type propellers.

MSC Fantasia Class of four ships

MSC Fantasia was delivered in December 2008 from the same St. Nazaire yard, then owned by STX Marine, followed by MSC Splendida in July, 2009, MSC Divina in May 2012, and MSC Preziosa in May 2013. The four latest sisters have accommodation from between 4,000 and 4,345 one class passengers on dimensions of 333.3 metres length, beam of 37.92 metres, and draft of 8.7 metres. All four ships are very stylish in décor and have thirteen passenger decks with the top deck having raised areas around the funnel for solariums, marinas and whirlpools. A luxury class called MSC Yacht Class is available on the top three decks at the forward end of the four ships. This provides exclusive Top Sail Lounges, larger staterooms, a dedicated restaurant and other privileges but comes at an added premium in a ‘pseudo First Class’. However, there are large shopping malls, atriums and theatres for the entertainment of all passengers. MSC Divina and MSC Preziosa have 114 more cabins than their earlier sisters to give the higher total of 4,345 passengers. They have service speeds of 21 knots from five Wartsila diesel electric oil engines driving six generators, two electric motors and two Azipod type propellers.

All this has been achieved in just twenty years from the formation of MSC Cruises, an incorporation of Star Lauro in December 1995, following the takeover of the cruise business of Lauro Line in 1987. Neapolitan shipowner Achille Lauro, who had always been a hero of Gianluigi Aponte, suffered financial problems, and Gianluigi Aponte purchased and renamed the Lauro company as Star Lauro. The veteran liner Achille Lauro, christened by HRH Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in 1946 for Royal Rotterdam Lloyd as Willem Ruys at the famous De Schelde yard in Flushing, was taken over. She caught fire off the Somalia coast on 30th November 1994 en route to South Africa after an engine room explosion due to a lack of supervision that burned out of control before discovery. She drifted on, enveloped in smoke, until she sank on 2nd December 1994. The other second hand cruise ships in the Star Lauro and MSC fleet were:-

Monterey

The former American C4 high speed cargoliner Free State Mariner of 1952 was rebuilt as the passenger Monterey in 1956 for Matson Lines, and passed to Pacific Far East Lines of San Francisco in 1971 for Pacific cruising. She was laid up for ten years until sold to Star Lauro in 1990, and then served for sixteen years until broken up in 2006 at Alang in India. She was noted for her Art Deco public rooms and had accommodation for 638 passengers.

Symphony

This veteran liner was built on the Tyne by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd .as Provence in 1950 for SGTM of Marseille for the South American trade, and passed to Costa Line in 1965 as Enrico C, becoming Enrico Costa in 1987. She was purchased by Star Lauro on 16th November 1994 and renamed Symphony, and after the loss of Achille Lauro sailed to South Africa to take her place on South African cruises. She continued in the MSC fleet until sold in 2000 and renamed Sea Glory 1, but was arrested at Dover in July 2001 as unseaworthy and broken up a year later at Alang as Classica. She was noted for her ‘Belle Epoque’ public rooms and had accommodation for 845 passengers.

Rhapsody

A more modern liner built in 1971 by Burmeister & Wain at Copenhagen as Cunard Princess for Cunard Line and was acquired by MSC in 1995 and renamed Rhapsody. She was sold in April, 2009 to an Israeli company and renamed Golden Iris and continues in service today. She has accommodation for 959 passengers and has an excellent nightclub that uses a large open deck area in warmer climes.

Melody

Melody was built as Atlantic in 1982 by the La Seyne shipyard near Marseille for Home Lines, and on takeover in 1988 by Holland America Line, they immediately sold her to Premier Cruises of the U.S.A. to become Starship Atlantic. She was purchased by MSC in 1997 and renamed Melody and sailed for MSC for fifteen years until sold in 2012 to Lotus Mine Cruises and was laid up. She has accommodation for 1,600 passengers in very comfortable cabins with generous space.

Postscript

The big owned MSC container fleet is currently 195 ships of just over one million TEU capacity, and the chartered fleet is 262 ships of 1.19 million TEU capacity or 53.2% of the total capacity. More new luxury cruise ships are on order for MSC Cruises with accommodation for over five thousand passengers, with the MSC cruise ship fleet growing exponentially in the same way as the MSC container ship fleet, which also has 23 giant ships including of 16,000 TEU and 18,000 TEU capacity on order. The stated ambition of MSC President, Gianluigi Aponte, is to operate the largest container ship fleet in the world, and he is not far off achieving his ambition. One can only admire the spectacular growth of his twin fleets in such a short span of time.