Painting the Town Yellow: MSC Celebrates Recent Port Partnership
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has grown from a single-vessel operation in the 1970s to becoming the world’s largest container shipping company. Today, MSC has over 900 vessels in operation, reaching 520 ports of call across the globe.
As a company in continuous evolution, MSC recently acquired a stake in Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft (HHLA) — one of Europe’s leading logistics and port services providers and the main terminal operator at the Port of Hamburg. Entering this partnership deepens MSC’s long-term commitment to Germany and the city of Hamburg, including increasing cargo volumes and planned investments in growth, technology and infrastructure.
Through this partnership, the parties have committed to investing 450 million euros in equity to support the growth, digitalization and modernization of HHLA’s terminals. MSC also plans to increase cargo throughput to at least a million TEU annually by 2031.
In celebration of this occasion and to mark this pivotal milestone, MSC hosted the MSC Festival of Yellow in Hamburg.
The MSC Yellow Festival
Inspired by MSC’s signature brand colour, the MSC Yellow Festival took place in the summer of 2025 and served as an opportunity for MSC to reaffirm its commitment as a loyal investor in the city of Hamburg. Attracting a crowd of over 100,000, the free, all-day street festival was held on the waterfront by Hamburg’s famous Landungsbrücken piers and the Jan-Fedder-Promenade. It was the largest public event to date hosted by MSC.
Visitors enjoyed prize-winning challenges, hands-on exhibits, family-friendly activities and food from around the world via food trucks and participating local bars. They were also treated to entertainment on all sides, including flyboarding, sway poles, street musicians, slacklining performances, graffiti artists and more.
With the community at the forefront, the MSC Group’s philanthropic arm, the MSC Foundation, also used the occasion to announce plans to extend its ecological work around the River Elbe through a new collaboration with the Gesellschaft für ökologische Planung e.V. (GÖP).
Alongside the festival, MSC also hosted a sunset naming ceremony for its new LNG dual-fuel vessel, MSC Germany, officially launched by Dr Melanie Leonhard, Hamburg’s Senator for Economy and Innovation. The event then ended with fireworks, a drone show and a live performance on a floating stage on the Elbe.
Enduring and Growing Bonds with the City of Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany, is a city of great significance to MSC. It was there that founder Gianluigi Aponte purchased his very first ship, marking the beginning of a journey that would transform a single-vessel enterprise into a global leader in shipping and logistics.
Over the years, MSC’s relationship with Hamburg has continued to grow. The company has maintained an active presence in the port and is a dedicated supporter of the local community.
The MSC Yellow Festival was not only a chance to honour this shared history; through the HHLA partnership and commitments to boost trade, investments and modernize infrastructure, it also looked ahead to a new era of collaboration and innovation, bringing the community and MSC even closer together.
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