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  September 13th, 2018 | Written by

Evergreen Group Celebrates 50th Anniversary

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  • Evergreen executives witnessed 50th anniversary milestone at company event.
  • Over 1,000 representatives of Evergreen subsidiaries and business partners from around the world attended celebration.
  • In 1984, Evergreen launched the unprecedented two-way, round-the-world container services.

Evergreen Group celebrated its 50th anniversary at the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation, home of the charity set-up by Evergreen Group Founder and Chairman Y.F. Chang. In addition to senior executives and employees of the Group’s businesses, the event was also attended by public officials, customers and business agents from both the shipping and airline industries as well as representatives of supply chain partners from more than fifty countries.

K.H. Chang of Evergreen International Corp. delivered the welcome address. He thanked business partners and all employees for working hand in hand with Evergreen Group for the past 50 years and expressed his gratitude to the general public for the support and encouragement, which helped Evergreen to achieve the scale of its business today. He encouraged all Evergreen staff to remain true to Dr. Chang’s values, keep pace with the times, and work together toward achieving the next milestone – a centennial anniversary. He also looked forward to getting together with all the guests once again to celebrate Evergreen’s 60th birthday in ten years’ time.

Taiwanese Minister of Transportation and Communications, Wu Hong-Mo, noted in his remarks that Evergreen Group builds a comprehensive shipping network and international flight routes, providing quality transportation service to facilitate world trade and serve the general public. In addition to its core businesses, Evergreen Group is also devoted to charitable activities and giving back to society. He wishes Evergreen Group a prosperous development and long-lasting future.

Evergreen Group evolved from its operation in marine transportation. Evergreen Group Founder and Chairman Y.F. Chang, established Evergreen Marine Corporation on the 1st of September 1968. In the early years, the company encountered numerous hurdles, such as the fire that ravaged Ever Island, a lack of lending support from financial institutions and competitive monopoly of freight conferences. All these obstacles were overcome under Dr. Chang’s leadership and with the ‘Evergreen Spirit’ embodied in all his employees.

In 1972, Evergreen launched Taiwan’s first Far East-Middle East liner service, helping local shippers transport their cargoes to the fast-developing Middle East region. In 1979, it opened the Far East to Europe full container service as an independent carrier, breaking the monopoly of the Far Eastern Freight Conference. In 1984, Evergreen launched the unprecedented two-way, round-the-world container services. This turned a new page in the history of the global marine transportation, establishing Evergreen as the world’s largest container shipping line in 1985. Today, Evergreen remains one of the leading brands in the global shipping industry.

After building a foundation in shipping industry, Chang sought to expand Evergreen’s transportation service into the airline industry. On the 20th anniversary of Evergreen Marine, he announced his plan to invest and build the first privately owned airline in Taiwan, EVA Air. Chang once said, “Although it will not be possible for EVA Air to grow to be the biggest airline in the world due to the restrictions of air traffic rights, EVA has to be the safest and best airline in the world, following the example of Evergreen Marine in the shipping industry.”

Chang made huge investments in the establishments of EVA Air, including training centres, maintenance facilities and software systems, to make sure that its flight safety and service quality met the most stringent standards. In spite of numerous difficulties, including adverse smearing campaigns, the fledgling airline successfully took to the sky in 1991. In just a few years, EVA expanded route network to many cities across Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. The pace of EVA’s service expansion had been rarely seen among newly-established airlines at that time.

The airline owed much of its successful growth to Evergreen Group’s experience in marine transportation. At an early stage of EVA’s development, Evergreen Marine transferred many of its skilled employees to provide the professional talents needed to build the airline. EVA was able to obtain many of its air traffic rights thanks to Evergreen Marine’s business relations and economic contribution to the relevant countries. In the succeeding years, EVA has always been at the forefront of international airlines and has won much prestigious recognition for flight safety and service quality.

In addition to marine and air transportation, Evergreen Group has developed into a global conglomerate across sea, land and air, expanding its business scope into aviation technologies, international hotel chains and steel production. Within each and every one of Evergreen Group’s business entities, the astute management of their executive team keeps their business moving forward. The dedication remains to continue efforts to provide better service for customers and the community at large. Looking to the future, Evergreen Group will continue to embrace Chang’s corporate philosophy of generating profit, caring for employees and giving back to society as it heads into the next 50 years.