Chang Yung-fa
| Chang Jung-fa | |
|---|---|
| Born |
6 October 1927 Suao, Taihoku Prefecture, Taiwan, Empire of Japan |
| Died | 20 January 2016 (aged 88) Taipei, Taiwan |
| Nationality | Taiwanese |
| Occupation | businessman, corporate executive |
Chang Jung-fa CBE (Chinese: 張榮發; 6 October 1927 – 20 January 2016) was a Taiwanese businessman. He founded and chaired the Evergreen Group.
Chang was born in Su'ao, while Taiwan was under Japanese rule. When he was seven, the family moved to Keelung. After graduating from Taipei Commercial High School at the age of 18, he went to work in the Taipei office of a Japanese shipping line. He continued his education by taking night classes at a vocational school in Taipei.
After World War II, he joined the seagoing staff of a local shipping company as third officer. His subsequent career was spent with various local companies and he progressed through the ranks to captain.
In 1961, Chang and some friends jointly established a shipping company and, having helped this company to develop, he decided to branch out on his own, establishing Evergreen Marine Corporation on September 1, 1968 with just one secondhand 15,000 ton vessel, Central Trust.
Over the next four years, Chang built his fleet up to twelve, running them empty when necessary to convince his customers his services were regular and reliable. Within a year, he had expanded to the Middle East. Within three, Chang was dispatching Evergreen ships to the Caribbean.
In 1975, Chang realized that containerisation was the way forward. He built four advanced S-type container ships and launched his U.S. East Coast service. Fifteen months later, he added the West coast of the United States to his network. Europe followed in 1979.
By 1984, he started his most ambitious service yet- two 80-day round-the-world services, one circling the globe in an easterly direction, the other westward. Departing every 10 days, the 20 G-type container ships he employed had a capacity of 2,728 containers each and could travel at a speed of 20.5 knots.
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