The story
Before the end of Chinese Civil War
In the 11th year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1872), Li Hongzhang, the then-prime minister, ordered Zhu Qi'ang, the General Manager of the Zhejiang Maritime Bureau, to establish the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company in Shanghai. On January 14, 1873, the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company was officially established, becoming China's first self-operated shipping company.
In 1909, China Merchants Steam Navigation Company was placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Posts and Communications. Following the establishment of the Republic of China, the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China announced in November 1927 that China Merchants Steam Navigation Company would be directly subordinate to the Ministry of Communications. In 1929, the Central Committee of the Kuomintang (KMT) resolved to transfer China Merchants Steam Navigation Company to the Nationalist Government. In 1933, the Central Political Committee of the KMT (Nationalist Party of China) resolved to nationalize China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, renaming it the "State-Owned China Merchants Steam Navigation Company," under the Ministry of Communications. In August 1938, the State-Owned China Merchants Steam Navigation Company was reorganized into the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company.
After the end of Chinese Civil War
The company was founded in 1972 as a shipping line, but has historical links through its merger with the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company (1872–1995), which dates back to the Qing Dynasty.
In 1949, China Merchants Steam Navigation Company moved to Taiwan. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the original China Merchants Steam Navigation Company in mainland China was merged into the Shanghai Maritime Bureau, Guangzhou Maritime Bureau, and China Changjiang Shipping (Group) Company under the Ministry of Communications of the People's Republic of China. On January 15, 1950, China Merchants Steam Navigation Company in Hong Kong announced its defection to the People's Republic of China. Since then, it has been a Chinese-funded enterprise in Hong Kong directly under the Ministry of Communications of the People's Republic of China. This has led to the situation where there are "China Merchants Steam Navigation Company" in Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively.
On December 28, 1972, the Republic of China was replaced by the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. In order to prevent the People's Republic of China from forcibly taking over all the assets of China Merchants Steam Navigation Company as "the successor of China", the company invested in Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation. The initial capital of the company was New Taiwan Dollar of $100 million at the time of its establishment. The first generation of headquarters was located on the 4th to 6th floors of No. 53 Huaining Street, Taipei City. The company also moved most of its departments to Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, and gradually became only the management office.
In May 1990, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation established its subsidiary, Guangming Marine Transport Co., Ltd.
In 1992, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange with the stock code 2609.
In March 1995, China Merchants Steam Navigation Company was merged into Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, and the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company in Taiwan officially ceased to exist.
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On February 15, 1996, the government's shareholding ratio in Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation was reduced to 48.9%, marking the completion of its privatization.
On November 11, 1999, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation established its subsidiary, Haohao International Logistics Co., Ltd., with its headquarters in Keelung City.
On November 20, 2003, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation's stock became a component of the Taiwan 50 Index.
On March 12, 2004, the board of directors of Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation decided to purchase the “ Nanshan Life Insurance Chongqing Building” at Section 2, Chongqing North Road, Datong District, Taipei City for NT$1.677 billion, mainly to meet the future business development needs of Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation's Taiwan sales department and its invested subsidiaries. After being purchased by Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, the building was renamed “Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation Chongqing Building”.
In 2017, Tsai Ing-wen government's National Development Fund of the Executive Yuan participated in Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation's private placement, subscribing to 100 million shares and becoming the second largest shareholder after ROC's Ministry of Transportation and Communications. In addition, state-owned Taiwan Shipping Corporation also participated in the capital reduction in the previous year.
In November 2017, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation's board of directors decided to echo and support Tsai Ing-wen government's New Southbound Policy and establish a joint venture with Taiwan Ports Authority in Surabaya, Indonesia, to operate a container terminal and freight forwarding business.
Yang Ming currently operates 101 container ships up to 14,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) and 17 bulk carriers.
In between July and September 2018, Yang Ming agreed to offer a service from the Port of Keelung, Taiwan, to the US for two batches of nearly 20 containers each, containing over 1700 unused nuclear fuel rods, after the Taiwan Power Company decided to close its fourth nuclear plant. Safety concerns for possible leakage of radioactive materials were raised, and the first shipment was attended by over 200 police officers and company officers.
On 10 March 2019, Yang Ming has welcomed two additional 14,000 TEU vessels in its fleet, YM Warranty and YM Wellspring.
The ships have been built in Japan at Imabari Shipbuilding, at a cost of nearly $99 million each. The additional tonnage is composed of sisters of the previously delivered YM Wellbeing, YM Wonderland and YM Wisdom.
In May 2019, under the scope of improving its network, an agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway was reached to have containers moved by rail from the Port of Vancouver eastbound to all Canada.
In October 2025, board of directors decided to purchase an entire office tower in Nangkang district, Taipei City, and announced that the group's office space will be comprehensively planned to meet business needs and growth demands through the Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation Qidu Building (headquarters, Qidu District, Keelung City), Yang Ming Nangang Building (second office), Yang Ming Chongqing Building (Chongqing North Road, Taipei City) and Yang Ming Keelung Building (Xinyi Road, Keelung City).
On April 3rd, 2026, Yang Ming launched their China-Singapore-Malaysia service. Three vessels travel on a 21-day rotation between Xiamen, Kaohsiung, Shekou, Singapore, and Port Klang.
From Wikipedia’s article on Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5