Evergreen was born of the sea. On September 1^st, 1968, Dr. Y. F. Chang, Founder and Chairman of Evergreen Group, established Evergreen Marine Corporation with a 15-year-old, used general cargo ship. With a steadfast and indomitable spirit, he faced and overcame every challenge to create for Taiwan a highway to the world. 

At the start, the company was short of capital. Nor was it easy to get loans from banks to build new vessels. So Evergreen mostly operated by purchasing used vessels. With these veteran ships, Evergreen established not one but two long-haul liner routes, building a bridge between Taiwan and both the Middle-East and Central/South America.

Bold Action was Required to Open Global Markets 

In the 1970s, “containerized shipping” was still just a seed of an exciting idea beginning to sprout. Taiwan was also transforming from an agricultural society into an industrialized economy. Domestically business was booming; small and medium-sized enterprises were eager to expand their businesses overseas, so there was a large exporter demand for shipping service. Dr. Chang foresaw that global shipping would embrace the trend of “containerization”. Therefore, he led a team overseas to acquire technical expertise and to research the workings of container shipping. In 1975, he decided to make the US East Coast the destination for his touchstone development and launched Evergreen’s first fully containerized service. Not only building a marine highway to the United States, Taiwan’s biggest export market at the time, this act also began the era of fully containerized shipping in Taiwan. 

However, even as he opened this regular fully containerized service to the United States, Dr. Chang saw the plight of another group of Taiwanese cargo owners. At the time most of the world’s shipping routes were monopolized by a small number of ‘cartels’ called shipping conferences. Cargo space was allocated at the whim of the lines that made up these conferences. Taiwanese cargo owners who wished to ship their goods to Europe, for example could only use cargo space not required by other foreign manufacturers. This created an obstacle to business development, constricting Taiwanese exporters who had no other choice but to swallow their anger. In 1979, in an act of considerable commercial courage, Evergreen Marine Corporation became the first independent shipping company to open a fully containerized regular service from the Far East to Europe; facing without fear retaliation from the shipping conferences. This act broke the century-old monopoly of the Far Eastern Freight Conference and shocked the global shipping industry. Evergreen’s unprecedented success enabled many shippers to have convenient transportation service and facilitated trade development between Taiwan and European countries.

Soon after, in 1984 Evergreen inaugurated an unprecedented round-the-world container service, sailing both eastbound and westbound and therefore crossing both the Atlantic and the Pacific in either direction. This initiative not only linked the world’s traders like a modern Silk Road of the sea, but also opened a new page in Taiwan’s economic history. As a result, in 1985 Evergreen reached the pinnacle and became the largest container shipping company in the world. Ever since the line has pioneered innovation and continued to improve its service quality to the present day.

Sailing into the Future on a Wave of Sustainable Development

In the course of half a century, Evergreen Marine Corporation went from owning a single used general cargo ship to today operating more than 200 container vessels and staffing more than 300 offices serving all the continents of the world. And it is still growing. As Evergreen expands its fleet and continues to extend its shipping network across the globe, it has not forgotten that it was born of the sea. Its success is inseparable from the ocean’s health and prosperity. Evergreen devotes itself to developing container vessels that are more energy saving and environmentally friendly than their predecessors. It seeks a harmonious balance between industry and nature and it sails boldly toward its perpetual goal of remaining a sustainable, green shipping company. 

Not only does Evergreen Marine Corporation position itself as a guardian of green earth, it invariably adheres to Dr. Chang’s management philosophy and remains true to his values. Providing best-quality, highly efficient shipping services is its most important task. Evergreen continues to develop state-of-the-art digital management methods while providing localized and user-friendly customer service. Every shipping order is seen as a sacred responsibility for which Evergreen holds itself accountable. Evergreen maintains its pursuit of excellence with an uncompromising sense of duty to its stated mission and it maps greater possibilities for its clients as it navigates toward a wider and greener world.

Translated by Jack C.
Edited by Sharon Tseng
Content sponsored by Evergreen Marine Corporation