MSC’s Gianluigi Aponte is diversifying horizontally and vertically with a chunky stake in tanker owner Sinokor and a long-term concession on a container terminal in Nigeria.
Aponte’s Luxembourg-based group company SAS Shipping Services is expected to acquire a 50% stake in the South Korean tanker company. Sinokor Merchant Marine has been on a major tanker acquisition drive in recent weeks, snapping up no less than 11 Dynacom VLCCs in February.
Seoul-based Sinokor, set up in 1989, is wholly owned by South Korean entrepreneur Ga-Hyun Chung, who is now selling 50% of the group to the Aponte’s SAS Shipping subsidiary. The company operates a box fleet of close to 1.8m teu capacity on 63 services but also has bulk carriers, tankers and LNG ships totalling more than 60 vessels.
Speaking at CMA Shipping 2026 in Connecticut last week, James Doyle, head of corporate development & IR at Scorpio Tankers noted in his presentation on the tanker market's performance that consolidation in the VLCC sector has accelerated in step with rates that were rising even before the recent impacts of conflict in the Middle East.
"They [Sinokor] amassed 17% of the fleet, and that is a large concentration of vessels, and can have a potentially large impact on the market... rates really started to move up as that consolidation happened over the last two months," said Doyle.
In February, Signal Ocean estimated that Sinokor accounted for 35 of the 45 VLCC sale and purchase transactions in the first weeks of this year. At the time, Sinokor's 12% share of the VLCC fleet represented 24% of the spot trading fleet, it said.
Brokers now estimate that the two groups combined – MSC and Sinokor – could now control up to 20% of the VLCC fleet. The Sinokor acquisition will also add more container ships, extending MSC’s lead in global container line rankings.
Meanwhile, MSC has signed a 45-year concession with Nigderdock in Lagos to develop a large container terminal in Lagos. The 30-hectare deep-sea terminal will have a 910-metre quay with six ship-to-shore cranes and a depth alongside of up to 18 m. It is scheduled for completion in 2028 and is expected to provide a major boost to logistics in that region of coast.
