Evergreen Chief awarded ‘Newsmaker of The Year’ by Lloyd List Asia

Sunday, 17 October 2010 22:42 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Taipei: Evergreen Group Chairman Dr. Chang Yung-fa was named ‘Newsmaker of the Year’ by the well-respected international marine media Lloyd’s List today in its award ceremony held in Singapore. Dr. Chang was recognised for having made the greatest impact on the development of shipping and world trade over the past 12 months.

Among his news-making accomplishments most recently, Dr. Chang’s impressive achievement has included an exclusive interview with CNBC television for inclusion in its broadcasting program, ‘Managing Asia’ in May of 2010.

During the interview, Dr. Chang recalled the path of his career, which included seeking the entrepreneurial style of finding employment in maritime-related companies. Ultimately, he established Evergreen Marine Corporation successfully, which has become one of the world’s largest containership companies.

He then expanded his businesses to airline, hotel industries and found the well-known Evergreen Group worldwide. The CNBC program has garnered positive responses from global enterprises.

In previous years when the maritime industry was flourishing, Dr. Chang went against the trend of other carriers who ordered many large container ships, assuming there would be too much idle capacity when the economic trend declined.

It turned out that his predictions were correct. He believed such activity would increase operating cost and erode company profit. Dr. Chang decision was widely discussed by the marine industry and made news worldwide.

The impact of the world recession impacted both capacity and volume, which had a serious imbalance of supply and demand. This led to the downward spiral of rates and the industry suffered deep financial difficulties. Evergreen Group, with no orders on the books and low debt service suffered less pressure. Dr. Chang’s foresight was well recognised by the industry and media.

In the midst of this crisis, Dr. Chang said in a media interview last year that Evergreen would reduce the number of vessels it operated by scrapping old tonnage and returning some chartered vessels. Evergreen also adopted joint service agreements to maximise capacity and slow steaming to save the fuel and reduce CO2 emission. Dr. Chang’s vision attracted significant attention from the industry but also helped the basis for market revival.

Lloyd List was established in 1734 with headquarters in London. In addition to the “Lloyd’s List Awards” held in London annually, the Asian bureau also awards Asian carriers and related industries. Dr. Chang was the first Asian to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by London’s Lloyd List in 2006 for his successful achievement in maritime industry and long-time commitment to promote marine education and cultivating personnel.