MSC Oliver – Second 19,224 TEU Giant Delivered to MSC
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has announced the delivery and inauguration of the MSC Oliver, the second ship in the company’s 19,224 TEU ‘Olympic Series’.
MSC Oliver was inaugurated at the DSME shipyard in Busan, South Korea on Monday (March 30), just two months after the delivery of MSC Oscar, currently the world’s largest containership by TEU capacity.
MSC Oliver is named after the nephew of the Diego Aponte, MSC’s President and CEO, and son of Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises, who was on-hand during the inauguration ceremony.
MSC Oscar was named after Aponte’s son, Oscar. MSC Oliver is expected to enter service on the Albatross Service which operates between Asia-Europe later this week.
Today it was the turn of Oscar’s cousin, Oliver, to break the traditional bottle of champagne against the ship, in the presence of his father Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises, representing both the Aponte family and MSC Group. MSC Oliver is the second of a total of twenty mega- vessels which are scheduled for delivery by the end of the year.
NEW VESSELS - NEW GENERATION
Traditionally, MSC container ships are named after female relatives of company employees. To date, there are just five exceptions: MSC Aniello, MSC Don Giovanni, MSC Diego, MSC Oscar and now, MSC Oliver.
“As these are the next generation of MSC container vessels it is fitting that they be named after the grandchildren of MSC founder, Gianluigi Aponte,” explained Mr. Vago during the ceremony, “Our children carry the promise of this family’s future and these ships, the promise of MSC’s destiny.”
Diego Aponte, MSC President and CEO, and his son Oscar were in Busan just two months ago, to christen MSC Oscar, the largest capacity container ship in the world today. “MSC Oscar and MSC Oliver are ships in the same class – not only can they carry more containers but they are also greener and more fuel efficient than any other container ship we operate,” concluded Mr. Vago.
MSC Oliver goes into service on the Albatross Service which operates between Asia-Europe later this week.