43.8 billion shipping tycoon quietly bottom-fishing in the global oil tanker market

Ask AI · What strategic intentions are hidden behind Changjin Merchant Marine’s and Aponte’s cooperation?

A little-known South Korean company has suddenly purchased dozens of super tankers, and then news broke that these acquisitions were supported by shipping magnate Gianluigi Aponte. Forbes investigation confirms that Aponte is indeed the actual buyer of many of these ships. With tensions in Iran causing a surge in tanker freight rates, this bet now appears to be perfectly timed.

The tanker Atlantás was purchased by Changjin Merchant Marine in January 2026 for $70 million. Photo taken at a Polish refinery in 2016. Image source: NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

Original title: “The World’s Richest Shipping Magnate Gianluigi Aponte Seems to Aim for Monopoly in the Super Tanker Market”

In December 2025, South Korean shipping company Sinokor Merchant Marine quietly began acquiring super tankers. For this company, which has a 36-year history and previously focused on container shipping, this is a major shift. In January this year, reports indicated that Sinokor was aggressively buying up, including the largest tankers—the Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs).

Nikolas Tsakos, founder of Tsakos Energy Navigation, told Forbes in January: “There’s a South Korean company right now that’s just taking every ship they see. The past month has been absolutely crazy.”

According to shipping management firm Veson Nautical, by the end of January, Sinokor had spent over $2.5 billion to acquire 35 tankers. By March, the total had risen to $3.3 billion, with at least 60 ships purchased.

But Sinokor may not be acting alone. While it has been making headlines for its massive tanker acquisitions, there are reports suggesting that the true behind-the-scenes force behind this buying spree is none other than the world’s wealthiest shipping magnate, Gianluigi Aponte (net worth $43.8 billion). At the end of January, industry publication Lloyd’s List reported that Sinokor’s acquisitions were “funded by Aponte,” though the relationship remains “shrouded in mystery.” Two shipowners who sold ships to Sinokor told Bloomberg in early February that the final buyers of these tankers were entities “linked to Aponte.”

These two groups have had previous business dealings. Aponte’s Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) had negotiations with Sinokor at the end of 2025 to buy up to 30 container ships for over $2.5 billion, and at least 11 of these acquisitions are believed to have been completed.

To clarify the true ownership of these tankers, Forbes examined records from the maritime database Equasis and delved into Panamanian company registration information—many of the ships’ ownership companies are registered there. The investigation shows that the connection between Aponte and Sinokor’s large-scale tanker acquisitions is even closer than previously known.

Equasis data indicates that 31 of these ships are not ultimately owned by Sinokor but by a series of companies all named “Haut Brion+number.” (Haut Brion is a famous Bordeaux wine region in France.) Of these 31 companies, 11 are registered in Panama. Local company records show that the heads of these companies are all Mario Aponte, Gianluigi’s cousin, who has held various positions at MSC for many years.

Between December 24 and December 26 last year, 18 companies were registered in Panama, with names from Haut Brion 1 to Haut Brion 18. Mario Aponte is listed as president of these 18 companies, with registered addresses in Cyprus, matching the address of MSC Shipmanagement Limited, MSC’s ship management subsidiary. The other executives are lawyers or nominal directors, seemingly with no connection to Sinokor. According to Veson Nautical, 11 of these companies are now confirmed owners of the tankers, with a total value exceeding $900 million. It remains unclear whether the other seven Haut Brion companies registered in Panama also own ships or what their purpose is.

Another 20 ships, worth over $820 million, are registered in Liberia. The country does not publicly disclose company registration records, so although the buyer names are consistent with those of the Panamanian tankers, Forbes cannot confirm whether MSC controls these ships. If all entities named “Haut Brion” are controlled by MSC, then Aponte would own more than half of the tankers Sinokor has purchased since December last year, possibly even more, as the ownership details of the remaining ships have not yet been disclosed. Despite multiple attempts to contact MSC and Sinokor, no responses have been received.

The registration information for the remaining 29 tankers purchased by Sinokor has not yet been updated to reflect the latest ownership changes and still shows the original owners, including George Prokopiou’s Dynacom Tankers and John Fredriksen’s Frontline.

According to Veson Nautical, Sinokor and/or MSC currently control a total of 76 super tankers valued at approximately $6.7 billion, accounting for 8% of the global super tanker fleet, making these two companies the largest super tanker owners in the world. This number could be even higher—Okeanis Eco Tankers estimates that Sinokor controls about 17% of the global super tankers and 39% of spot ships, which are used for immediate and short-term transportation.

“Currently, it’s unclear what their specific plans are, but there’s speculation that they are trying to monopolize the market,” said Fredrik Dybwad, an analyst at Fearnley Securities, an Oslo-based maritime and energy investment bank. “They are trying to gain as much market share as possible, which would give them essentially control over freight rates. This approach is unprecedented in shipping.”

The exact nature of the cooperation between Sinokor and MSC remains unclear. One possibility is that the two are working together to control the super tanker market and push up freight rates, with Sinokor relying on MSC’s stronger financial backing to purchase more ships beyond its own means.

What is certain is that Aponte has made a precise bet on super tankers at the right time.

With tensions in Iran escalating and the Strait of Hormuz closing, tanker freight rates have soared to historic highs. According to Veson Nautical, spot rates from Middle Eastern ports to China last Friday hit a record $485,959 per ship per day, and one-year charter rates (long-term fixed contracts) reached $111,000 per day, breaking pandemic-era highs.

Lloyd’s List reports that on Wednesday, the Gabon Prosperity, a tanker owned by Sinokor, signed a contract to transport crude oil from the Red Sea to India at a rate of $356,938 per day. Other reports indicate that several of the company’s tankers are idling in the Persian Gulf, used solely for storing oil while waiting for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, earning up to $500k per ship per day.

Other shipping billionaires have also profited handsomely from Sinokor and MSC’s frenzied buying spree, earning billions from this wave of acquisitions. Major sellers include: George Prokopiou’s Dynacom Tankers (9 ships), John Fredriksen’s Frontline (8 ships), Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Maritime (3 ships), Diamantis Diamantides’ Delta Tankers (2 ships), Evangelos Marinakis’ Capital Ship Management (2 ships), and George Economou’s TMS Tankers (2 ships). These deals have not only brought these shipping magnates hundreds of millions of dollars in profits but also driven up the value of their existing fleets, increasing their total wealth by over 50% in the past year to a total of $130 billion.

As long as the Iran conflict continues, profits will keep flowing in. Liam Burke, an analyst at B. Riley Securities, said at the Capital Link International Shipping Forum in New York on March 9: “We don’t know how long these freight rates will last. It’s temporary, but the cash flow generated is real and can be retained.”

However, this is a long-term strategy, and more deals are in the pipeline. Tsakos told Forbes that his company is negotiating with Sinokor to sell two tankers at about $110 million each. Other competitors expect Sinokor and MSC to continue acquiring ships, aiming to further increase their market dominance and push freight rates higher.

Dybwad said, “If they can pull this off, everyone will benefit. But I’m skeptical whether they really can, because shipping is a highly fragmented industry with many small owners who can enter the market at any time and disrupt their attempts to control prices and market share. But if they do succeed, it would have a very positive impact.”

For years, Aponte has been investing heavily to expand his empire, and this frantic tanker buying spree is just the latest move. The 85-year-old Italian-Swiss billionaire, along with his wife Rafaela Aponte, founded and owns the container shipping giant MSC. The pandemic-driven surge in freight rates brought MSC hundreds of billions of dollars in cash. The company used some of that to expand its fleet, becoming the world’s largest container shipping company in early 2022.

Forbes estimates that from January 2022 to March 2025, MSC spent over $40 billion acquiring more container ships, ports, hospitals, and even an Italian high-speed rail company. In March last year, MSC announced a $23 billion deal to jointly acquire 43 ports owned by CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong conglomerate of billionaire Li Ka-shing, but the deal has been stalled since July last year.

Aponte has not slowed down. In recent months, MSC has invested between $900 million and $1.7 billion in the tanker market, marking its first foray into this sector. So far, other industry players seem to welcome the expansion, as long as everyone continues to profit.

Greek tanker billionaire Giannis Alafouzos’ son and CEO of Okeanis Eco Tankers, Aristidis Alafouzos, said during a February earnings call: “They are very effective at pushing up market prices. They do the hard work, allowing other market participants to sit back and enjoy the gains.”

This article is translated from:

Text: Giacomo Tognini

Translation: Björn

Proofreading: Lemin

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