The ship name “Ever Given” made the container shipping company Evergreen known all over the world. The huge container ship lay across the Suez Canal in March 2021, blocking the most important waterway between Europe and the Far East.
The consequences were also felt in Germany, when there was a lack of goods in retail. Nevertheless, the shipping company based in Taipei in Taiwan – like all major liner shipping companies worldwide in the corona pandemic – has achieved record profits.
The employees also benefit from this. According to information from the shipping service C-Captain, Evergreen Marine will pay up to 50 monthly salaries as a bonus for the 2022 financial year. The service relies on “Economic Daily News” in Taipei and on company information.
The employees who are employed directly in Taiwan benefit. The average sum is $65,000 (€60,000) per person. As number seven in the industry, Evergreen employs almost 4,000 people worldwide and operates 196 cargo ships.
The record profits are spread across the entire industry. Hapag-Lloyd, headquartered in Hamburg, achieved a pre-tax profit of 17.5 billion euros in the past financial year. According to the company, the 14,500 employees worldwide will receive two monthly salaries as a bonus.
From the planned dividend of 63 euros per share, the two largest shareholders Klaus-Michael Kühne and the Chilean entrepreneurial family Luksic will each receive around 3.3 billion euros.
Other shipping companies make similar special payments. According to the shipping service, the Wan Hai container line, which is also based in Taiwan, offers an average of nine monthly salaries as an annual bonus.
The world’s third largest container shipping company CMA CGM from France is to pay out two monthly salaries per employee and a total of 700 million euros. The Danish line Maersk, as the global number two, also pays special premiums, but does not give any figures. The German shipping company Hamburg Süd belongs to Maersk.
However, the times when container shipping was able to increase the prices for individual containers overseas tenfold due to capacity bottlenecks in sea transport are over.
Since the relationship between the available space on the cargo ships and the transport demand has been balanced again, freight rates have fallen. They are now almost at the level before the outbreak of the corona pandemic.
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