The roadmap for global expansion of Evergreen Marine Corp.

• Author: Liu, Sandra S.

Evergreen Marine Corp (EMC) started as a privately-owned single-vessel company and became a global ocean carrier giant with 240 service locations; its shipping network now covers 80 countries. The success of the company's global expansion has been well recognized. This article will explore the journey of Evergreen's globalization through an interview with one of the senior managers who has been involved in every stage of the company's globalization process.

BACKGROUND

EMC was founded on September 1, 1968 in Taiwan by Dr. Yung-Fa Chang, with a starting capital of NT$ 2 million (Taiwan currency). Initially EMC only occupied a single second-handed general cargo vessel and provided "goes anywhere" service. However, within one year after its inception, EMC possessed the business strength to set up its first liner service, established on the Far East-Middle East trade route from the Far East to the Arabian-Persian Gulf, which was at that time fairly 'ignored' by most companies. Three years later, EMC launched another regular liner service--from the Far East to the Caribbean Sea. In 1975, while the detriment of the global energy crisis impeded the shipping industry's growth gravely, EMC ventured into its first full containership project from the Far East to the US East Coast with a newly-built containership that was the first such fleet in Taiwan. riding on this significant milestone, EMC initiated a Two-Way Around-the-World container service in 1984 and became the only provider for container service throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. By 2002, EMC replaced the Two-Way Around-the-World container service with full Way Around-the-World container service, the US West Coast/Asia/Europe and the North Asia/US East Coast/ Europe service.

EMC was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 1987 with a capital of NT $10 billion. Henceforth, EMC's capital accumulated annually to NT $18.6 billion by 1999 with 240 service locations across Asia, Europe, America, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania; and four container terminals located in Taichung, Kaohsiung, Colon, and Taranto. Its shipping network, throughout 80 countries, owns 170 ships that have a capacity totaling approximately 580,000 TEU (1 TEU=20-ft container). Today, EMC has grown into a shipping giant standing as the fourth largest provider in the global market.

THE IMPETUS FOR EMC GOING GLOBAL

After the World War II, it is recognized that there was a boom in the world economy. Especially during...