History
The company was founded 1 September 1968 by Yung-Fa Chang. Services began with a single cargo vessel named Central Trust, which operated a "go-anywhere" service.[5] A second vessel was added in 1969, and used on Middle East services.[5] Additional vessels were acquired through the 1970s, and routes to East Asia and Central America were added.[5] Service to the U.S. began in 1974, with the establishment of Evergreen Marine Corporation (New York) Ltd.[5]
In 1981, the parent company changed its name to Evergreen International S.A. (EIS), as the company increased its global expansion efforts.[5] Evergreen Marine began its first circumnavigation shipping services in 1984. This service is bi-directional, covering both westbound and eastbound routings.
In 1992, almost 29,000 rubber ducks called "Friendly Floatees" were unintentionally dumped into the Pacific Ocean from a container lost overboard by the Evergreen ship Ever Laurel.[6]
Since then, Evergreen Marine has expanded to include other shipping companies such as the Uniglory Marine Corp. (Taiwan) in 1984, the Hatsu Marine Ltd. (U.K.) in 2002, and the Italian shipping company Italia Marittima (previously Lloyd Triestino, and founded as "Österreichischer Lloyd" in 1835) in 1993. Uniglory was made a division of the company in 1999.[5] Evergreen Marine is partnered with EVA Airways, founded in 1989, and Uni Air, founded in 1998.[7]
In 2002, Evergreen Marine operated 61 container vessels, with a total fleet size totaling 130 vessels with 400,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units).[5] By 2008, Evergreen Marine operated 178 container vessels.[8] In 2009, the company announced plans to build 100 additional vessels, in anticipation of a global economic recovery[9] by 2012.[8]
