Chang Yung-fa

Chang Yung-fa
Born	(1927-10-06) 6 October 1927 Su'ao, Taiwan (under Japanese rule)
Died	20 January 2016(2016-01-20) (aged 88)
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Known for	Founder and leader of Evergreen Group

Chang Yung-fa CBE (; 6 October 1927 – 20 January 2016) was a prominent Taiwanese entrepreneur best known for founding and leading the Evergreen Group.

Biography

Chang was born in Su'ao during the period of Japanese governance and relocated to Keelung at the age of seven. After completing his education at Taipei Commercial High School by age eighteen, he began working with a Japanese shipping company operating in Taiwan while attending evening vocational courses. Following the conclusion of World War II, Chang joined a local maritime firm as a third officer and eventually advanced to the position of captain.

In 1961, he participated in establishing a shipping enterprise before founding Evergreen Marine Corporation on 1 September 1968. The company started operations with a single used vessel, the 15,000-ton Central Trust. Over the next four years, Chang expanded the fleet to twelve ships, emphasizing dependable service even when it resulted in financial losses. Evergreen rapidly broadened its shipping routes to include destinations in the Middle East and Caribbean regions.

Identifying the transformative potential of containerisation in 1975, Chang commissioned four state-of-the-art S-type vessels and initiated service on the US East Coast. By 1979, Evergreen had extended its operations to the US West Coast and Europe. By 1984, the company operated two global round-the-world services lasting eighty days each, utilizing twenty G-type ships capable of transporting 2,728 containers at speeds reaching 20.5 knots.

The Evergreen Group expanded beyond maritime shipping into sectors such as heavy industry, aviation, hospitality, and resort management. It employs more than 27,000 people across upwards of 220 offices worldwide and consists of around 30 major subsidiaries, including three publicly traded companies on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

During Taiwan's 2012 presidential election, Chang openly rejected the so-called "Taiwan Consensus," linking it with Taiwan independence. He also committed to donating most of his estimated NT$50 billion (approximately $1.7 billion) wealth through the Chang Yung-fa Foundation.

Chang was married twice and fathered five children. His second son from his second marriage, Chang Kuo-wei, established Starlux Airlines. Chang passed away at age eighty-eight on 20 January 2016.

Conferment

• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, California State University, 1990
• Honorary Doctor of Business Administration, University of South Carolina, 1995
• Honorary Doctor of Shipping & Transportation Management, National Taiwan Ocean University, 1998
• Honorary Doctor of Business Administration, Nottingham Trent University, 1999
• Honorary Doctor of Business Administration, National Chiao Tung University, 2000
• Honorary Doctor of Transport and Academician, Russian Academy of Transport, 2007
• Honorary Professorship, University of Houston–Downtown, 2008

Honors and awards

• Order of Chivalry (D.M.P.N.) with title "Dato", Penang, Malaysia, 2000
• Officer of the Legion of Honor, France, 2002
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Lloyd's List, 2006
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), UK, 2006
• Honorary Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (P.S.M.), 2006
• Knight of the Grand Cross (Cavaliere di Gran Croce), Italy, 2007
• Commander of the Order of the Crown, Belgium, 2008
• Commander in the Order of Orange-Nassau, The Netherlands, 2011
• Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, Japan, 2012
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2014

External links

• EVERGREEN GROUP