Dr Chang Yung-Fa, Group Chairman of the Taiwan-headquartered transport conglomerate, the Evergreen Group, has been appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to shipping and British economic interests. The honour was conferred on Dr Chang yesterday (17 July 2006) at a ceremony held in the Locarno Suite, located within the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Whitehall, London.

Following the ceremony, Dr Chang attended a meeting at Buckingham Palace with HRH the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. Among issues discussed during this meeting were future opportunities for the Evergreen Group’s continued support of British shipping and the UK economy.

Accepting the honour at Whitehall, Dr Chang said:

“I am both humbled and deeply honoured by today’s proceedings. I am happy to say that shipping has not only been my profession, but also my life’s passion. To be rewarded for one’s passion is truly a privilege.

 “Britain has a long history of maritime supremacy and high quality standards. The UK government is urging the shipping community to put the UK back on the maritime map and, through my company the Evergreen Group, I am delighted to be participating actively in projects related to that development.

“On a more personal note, I would like to thank the maritime industry as a whole. I can only hope that my contribution to shipping has been as great as shipping’s contribution to my life. The maritime industry has provided me with many full and happy years and shaped the man I am today. In the wise words of the English poet and novelist John Ruskin: ‘The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.’”

The Evergreen Group, established by Dr Chang in 1968, has enjoyed a 27-year-long relationship with the UK, beginning in 1979 when the Group’s shipping arm, Evergreen Marine Corp, successfully broke the Far Eastern Freight Conference’s monopoly on the Far East/Europe container trades and made its first vessel calls at the UK’s Port of Felixstowe.

Since then, the business alliances between the Evergreen Group and the UK have been strengthened with the establishment of Evergreen UK Limited, Eva Airways Corp (UK Branch) and London-headquartered shipping company Hatsu Marine Ltd.

On a more personal level, Dr Chang is a strong believer in education, especially as it relates to the maritime industry, and having been impressed by the work done by the National Maritime Museum in educating children about the sea, provided substantial support some years ago to the construction of a new gallery at Greenwich. He is also a supporter of a Chinese-language school in London, Atlantic College, Glamorgan, and of the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge, where documents relating to Sir Winston Churchill and Baroness Thatcher are held and made available to students and researchers.

Currently, the Evergreen Group offers three sailings per week from Thamesport via its China-Europe-Mediterranean (CEM) service and its US West Coast-Asia-Europe (WAE) and North Asia-US East Coast-Europe (NUE) pendulum services, as well as one sailing per week from Felixstowe on its India Subcontinent-Europe (ISE) service. Annual import and export cargoes amount to approximately 180,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).

Hatsu Marine, established as a British shipping company in 2002, has developed into one of the largest shipowning entities in the UK and was this year awarded the coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade. At present, the company operates 11 containerships under the Red Ensign, including four 7,024TEU S-type vessels, which incorporate the latest in environmentally sound features and are among the largest container vessels currently plying the world’s oceans.

As part of the requirements for inclusion within the UK tonnage tax regime, the Evergreen Group is also training British cadets on board its vessels for operating UK-registered ships flying the Red Ensign.

The Group’s airline, EVA Airways, has been flying between Taipei and London via Bangkok since 1993. The London-Bangkok sector is exceptionally busy with heavy demand for both passenger and freight capacity. Today, the company provides six passenger flights and two freighter flights between Taipei and London every week. EVA cooperates with British Airways in the provision of freighter flights between Taipei and London via Dubai, another important freight hub.

From small acorns
Dr Chang started out life in shipping as third officer on a small cargo vessel. Today, he is head of one of the world’s leading container shipping lines, following in a long tradition of seafarers who have created their own shipping companies. Evergreen started with just one secondhand tweendecker in 1968 and only took delivery of its first newbuilding tweendecker in 1972. Its first containership entered service in 1975 and, in 1984, Dr Chang launched his radical Round-the-World service: 24 brand-new ships sailing eastbound and westbound around the world linking Asia, North America and Europe. The Evergreen Group currently operates a fleet of over 150 vessels and has expanded its business interests into property development, inland transport and logistics and aviation.

The Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V to fill gaps in the British honours system. In particular, King George V wished to honour the many thousands of people who served in numerous non-combatant capacities during the First World War. Originally, the Order included only one division; however, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was formally divided into Military and Civil Divisions. This Order of Knighthood has a more democratic character than the exclusive orders of the Bath or Saint Michael and Saint George, and in its early days was not held in high esteem. This changed over the years.

The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order. Appointments are made on the advice of the governments of the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms.