MSC may be ready for a major move in Italian logistics: entering the shareholding structure of Interporto di Bologna. This was reported in an article in the Bologna edition of Corriere della Sera on 16 July 2026, which also identified 22 July as a key date, when the shareholders’ meeting of the interport company is due to take place. Corriere wrote that “at that meeting, Interporto shareholders will give the chairman, employment lawyer Stefano Caliandro, a mandate to look for a buyer for the unsubscribed shares in the €8 million capital increase launched a few months ago. As is known, only Città Metropolitana (Metropolitan City) and Camera di commercio (Chamber of Commerce) took part in the recapitalisation. As a result, about €6 million remains available, which MSC intends to cover, thereby entering with a stake of about 17%. Informal contacts have already taken place in recent weeks and the public shareholders are understood to have given the green light”.
More specifically, according to the article, in addition to the capital increase, MSC could acquire stakes currently held by the Comune di Bologna (Municipality of Bologna), which owns 35%, and Intesa Sanpaolo, which owns 17%. In this way, “the MSC group could rise to as much as 70% of the company”. The added value of the Bologna facility for the Aponte family’s giant could lie in its intermodal operations, which are set to be strengthened with a new rail terminal featuring five 750-metre tracks and around 80,000 square metres of yard space. It is expected to be completed in 2032, when it will be able to handle 250,000 TEU. Rail operations are currently managed jointly by Interporto di Bologna and Terminali Italia, part of FS, through a network contract.
This would be MSC’s second attempt to enter the shareholding structure of a major Italian interport, after its move involving Interporto di Padova. Medlog, a company controlled by MSC, took part in the tender for a logistics partner together with Rail Hub Milano, part of Contship, but the Veneto interport company chose the consortium formed by PSA Italia and Logtainer. Medlog and RHM have filed an appeal with the TAR Veneto (Veneto Regional Administrative Court) against that outcome. In theory, therefore, the Padua contest remains open.
M.L.
