MSC Maya christened in Antwerp

Antwerp, Belgium, 26th September 2015  

Today, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company celebrates the christening of MSC Maya, the most recent MSC ‘Oscar class’ supersize  container ship*,  on her maiden call at Antwerp.  MSC Maya is the latest of a brand new class of 19,224 TEU container ships from the leading ocean carrier. The ships are built to exacting engineering standards at Daewoo’s Shipbuilding and Maritime Engineering (DSME) Shipyard in South Korea and sail under the Panama flag. The new ship is named after Maya, the grand-daughter of MSC Group Founder and Executive Chairman. Four year old Maya will break the traditional bottle of champagne against the ship at the MSC PSA European Terminal in the port of Antwerp, in the presence of her mother Elâ Soyuer Aponte and her father Diego Aponte, President and Chief Executive Officer of MSC Group.

Belgium is where it all began for MSC

“Holding the ceremony in Antwerp means a lot to our family because this is where it all started for MSC. It was 45 years ago that my father and my mother started MSC with a single conventional ship, the MV Patricia, in Brussels, ” Diego Aponte explains, “I believe it is through these kind of moments that we can transmit our passion for the sea to our children, to carry forward what my father has built over the past four decades.”

MSC Maya follows the tradition of being named after female family members or relatives of MSC company employees. To date, there have been just five exceptions: MSC Aniello, MSC Don Giovanni, MSC Diego and, earlier this year, MSC Oscar and MSC Oliver. It is symbolic that this new generation of container ships carries the names of the younger members of the MSC family, who represent the future of the company.

Marc Beerlandt, Managing Director of MSC Belgium, comments, “Today, we are honoured to christen MSC Maya in Antwerp, which is MSC’s most important hub in Northern Europe.“ He continues, “Our partnership with Antwerp goes back many years. Both MSC and the port of Antwerp play an important role in the local economy.  In addition to our container business, MSC also offers our customers a range of dedicated intermodal services connecting Antwerp to major business centres throughout Benelux and to various destinations in Northern Europe.”