The story
Founded by Chang Yung-fa in 1968, in Taipei.1
History
The predecessor of Evergreen Steel Corporation, named Kaolun Industrial Corporation at the time, was founded in 1973, and renamed to Ever Master Industrial Corporation in 1982. Another predecessor, Ever Valor Industrial Corporation, started operations in 1984. The two companies merged (under the older company's name) year after, in 1985, and the merged entity was renamed Evergreen Heavy Industrial Corporation in 1987.
The company underwent further mergers (with Evergreen Superalloy Corporation in 1990, Ever Pioneer Steel Corporation in 1998, Green Steel Structure Corporation in 2009), acquired equities of its subsidiaries (of Super Max Engineering Corporation in 1997, of Hsin Yung Enterprise Corporation in 1998, of Mingyu Investment Corporation and Green Steel Structure Corporation in 2000, of Ever Ecove Corporation in 2018), and was further renamed numerous times (to Evergreen Development & Network Technology Corporation in 2000, to Evergreen Development Corporation in 2001, to Evergreen Steel Corporation in 2011).
It went public in 2019, and was listed on Emerging Stock Board of Taipei Exchange in 2020 and on TWSE in 2021.
History
Dr. Chang Yung-fa, Chairman of the Evergreen Group, was born in Taiwan in 1927. After graduating from Taipei Commercial High School at the age of 18, he went to work in the Taipei office of a Japanese shipping line.
After World War II, he joined the seagoing staff of a local shipping company as 3rd officer. His subsequent career was spent with various local companies and he progressed smoothly through the ranks to 2nd officer, chief officer and eventually to captain.
Foundation of Evergreen Marine Corporation
In 1961, Chang and others established a shipping company; he branched out on his own by establishing Evergreen Marine Corporation on September 1, 1968, with just one secondhand 15,000 dwt vessel, Central Trust.
Over the next four years, Chang built his fleet up to 12 vessels. Within a year, he had expanded to the Middle East. Within three, Chang was dispatching Evergreen ships to the Caribbean.
Back in 1975, Chang realized that containerisation was the way forward. He built four advanced S-type container ships and launched his US East Coast service, adding the US West Coast fifteen months later. Europe followed in 1979.
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By 1984, he started his most ambitious service yet – two 80-day round-the-world services, one circling the globe in an easterly direction, the other westward. Departing every 10 days, the 20 G-type container ships he employed had a capacity of 2,728 containers each and could travel at a speed of 20.5 knots.
Expansion and formation of Evergreen Group
The Evergreen Group has expanded beyond the shipping industry to encompass operations in energy development, air transport, hotels and resort services.
The country's first private international airline, EVA Airways Corporation, was established on March 8, 1989, and on July 1, 1991, formally inaugurated its first flight and began a new era of national commercial aviation.
In line with the development of its airline industry, Evergreen has become the first Taiwanese enterprise to gain a worldwide foothold in the hotel industry.
In 1998, Evergreen purchased the Italian shipping line Lloyd Triestino renaming as Italia Marittima S.p.A. on 1 March 2006, thus providing it with a firm foothold in the European Union. It consolidated this position in 2002 with the establishment of Hatsu Marine in London, a UK-flag shipping company that today operates some of the largest and most sophisticated vessels in the Evergreen Group fleet.
The Evergreen Group, with over 18,000 employees and more than 240 offices/agents worldwide, now comprises over 50 major corporations worldwide, three of which are listed on the Taipei Stock Exchange.
In 2006, the Kuomintang sold its former headquarters to Evergreen Group for $2.3 billion New Taiwan dollars (96 million United States dollars). In 2010, Evergreen Group announced that it would buy 10 ships each from Samsung Heavy Industries and CSBC Corporation as part of an ambitious plan to double its current fleet of 81 ships.
From Wikipedia’s article on Evergreen Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4