At MSC's headquarters in London, a fax with the crown and the word ER slowly spit out from the company's fax machine. When an assistant in charge of sending and receiving faxes saw the sign, he immediately turned his attention to the fax, and in any case, the people of Scotland Yard would not be able to send random faxes to MSC.

When the fax was finally fully displayed in front of the clerk, the clerk tore off the fax and glanced at it, and soon he understood the seriousness of the tense.

Ten minutes later, the fax was placed at the top of all the documents, on the desk of the head of the legal department at MSC's London headquarters.

Although the world's trade pattern has changed, London has long since lost its position as the world's largest port, after all, seven of the world's top ten ports are in China. However, London's importance in the global shipping map has not been shaken in the slightest, and it is still widely regarded as the world's number one shipping center.

As the world's leading arbitration centre for maritime disputes, the London Maritime Arbitrators Association undertakes 90% of the world's maritime dispute arbitrations. In addition, it also brings together 20% of the world's classification management agencies, 50% of the tanker charter business, 40% of the bulk carrier business, 18% of the ship finance business, and 20% of the shipping insurance business. It is precisely because London is so important in international shipping that the London headquarters of MSC attaches so much importance to its legal department.

However, when Maazel, the head of the legal department, got the fax from Scotland Yard, he couldn't help but find it a little tricky. Because it's very clear in this email. In the recent case of 12 illegal immigrants in Dover, the shipping company involved was none other than the MSC, where Maazel worked. This case not only shocked the media throughout the United Kingdom, but also because the identity of the victim came from many countries, and the relevant countries were very concerned about this case. Not long ago, there was a spontaneous rally of local people near the port of Dover. It can be said that the girls killed in the Dover case have already received the sympathy of the vast majority of the population throughout the United Kingdom.

In addition to the influence of the case itself, there is another point that Maazel finds difficult to handle. That's the problem of Mediterranean shipping itself.

As a world-class shipping giant that started in Italy. MSC has had an inexplicable relationship with the mafia since the day it was born. When the company was first founded, all of MSC's ship construction costs were paid in cash. This was done not because MSC had deep pockets from the start, but because the company was indeed financed by the inexplicable wealth of the mafia.

However, all this began to turn around after the Russians took over. With the end of the 80s of the last century, the global economy fell into a downturn, and the once lively shipping industry began to shrink. However, during this time, a group of wealthy Eastern European businessmen bought a large number of shares from the Italian family at a very small price. Thus taking control of the shipping company on the verge of bankruptcy in one fell swoop. Subsequently, under the nurturing of a large number of freight orders from North America, MSC began to rise against the trend in the overall downturn of the market, and established itself as a global shipping hegemon.

Maazel put down the fax in his hand a little depressed, and then he habitually stroked the top of his sparse head with his hand. After some thought, Maazel decided that it would be better to take the matter to the Geneva headquarters.

Maazel picked up the phone on the table and pressed directly on one of the numbers stored on the phone. With the busy sound of waiting coming from the earpiece, Maazel quickly figured out how to phrase his own report.

"Hello, this is MSC, I'm Farrell!"

"President Farrell, I'm Maazel from the Legal Department in London. There's a tricky thing I need to report back to you!"

"Oh...... Is it a maritime dispute or something?"

"No, it's not, in fact, we're now involved in a very difficult case. The people of Scotland Yard have their eyes on us......"

"Tricky stuff? ...... you mean"

"Have you heard about the recent murder of 12 girls in Dover, whose bodies were found in our company's containers?"

"I've heard of it, but what do you mean by calling me, is Scotland Yard already coming to your door?"

"No, they sent a fax asking us for the specifics of that container. I'm a little unsure of how to answer this kind of thing......"

"So, what can I do to help you......"

"Mr. President, no matter how the police deal with it, shouldn't we first check ourselves? At the very least, we should know what the Mediterranean Shipping Company has in this matter that can arouse the suspicion of the police. Moreover, this case has already alarmed many countries, including the United States and Russia, and it is better for the company to have a unified voice to deal with this joint investigation......"

Maazel gave his opinion from a professional point of view, and Farrell, who was on the other side of the phone, pondered for a moment and finally agreed to Maazel's suggestion.

"Well, I'll investigate this matter as soon as possible. I'll get back to you when I find out what happened......"

"Wait a minute, Mr. Farrell, do you still need to inform the boss about this?"

"What do you want, let's just handle such a small matter ourselves!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Farrell, but I'm a little worried!"

……

When Maazel ended his call with Vice President Farrell at the Geneva headquarters, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The reason why Maazel found the matter difficult to handle was that he did not know whether there was a connection between Dover's case and MSC. This kind of thing, it is best to let the company's internal higher-level executives to investigate, regardless of whether this matter has anything to do with MSC or not, the entire company's external answer must be the same. And this is not something that he Maazel, a small legal director of the London headquarters, can afford.

But just as Maazel hung up the phone, his secretary knocked on the door and walked into his office.

"Mr. Maazel, the BBC just called and said that they wanted to ask you about the Dover case, would you like to be interviewed?"

"Tell them that we have nothing to say now, and inform everyone at the London headquarters that no one is allowed to divulge a word to the media until the official notice is issued!"

(PS: Please refer to my last book "The Godfather of the Soviet Union" for the setting of the Mediterranean shipping company in this book, which has nothing to do with the real world)