The Daily View: Outside of the box

GIANLUIGI Aponte is the shipowners’ shipowner.

Widely regarded as the most astute player of his generation, he knows the market, what to buy or sell, and when to make a move.

And right now, he is sitting on a cash war chest that, depending on which hugely speculative estimate you believe, could be in the region of $60bn-$80bn.

So why is the world’s largest owner of containerships, by a country mile, suddenly investing in tankers?

Mediterranean Shipping Company is not given to talking publicly about its deals. But even by Aponte’s tight-lipped standards the sudden flurry of very large crude carrier purchases being fronted by South Korea’s Sinokor with Aponte’s money is being kept deliberately quiet in a market that generally leaks like a sieve.

Rumours had been circling since Christmas that Sinokor was undergoing a major strategic pivot, selling nearly its entire 30-vessel container fleet to MSC for an estimated $2.5bn-$3bn. Sinokor was then said to be aggressively reinvesting in VLCCs, aiming to become one of the largest tanker owners.

But the involvement of Aponte behind the scenes as the ultimate buyer of these vessels adds further intrigue to the story.

The fact that Aponte is now known to be talking to shipyards about more deals for VLCCs all points to a major market move that we understand has as much as $5bn of Aponte’s cash lined up against it.

Aponte knows how to pull off big deals, there is no doubt about that. But is the box kingpin really trying to corner the VLCC market?

Even by Aponte’s standards, this would be a bold move.

It is a brave man who thinks he can corner Xi Jinping, who is the ultimate customer here with the power to decide the success of such an extraordinary move, if that is what this is.

The less remarkable explanation for all this is that Aponte has simply done what Aponte is so adept at doing, and has found sufficient upside in tankers to lure the 85-year-old container mogul briefly away from his beloved boxes.

Whether this turns out to be an investment opportunity, a joint venture or a power play to corner the most geopolitically charged market on the planet, every shipowner is now watching intently.

Richard Meade
Editor-in-chief, Lloyd’s List

Click here to view the latest Lloyd’s List Daily Briefing