News / Evergreen staff bonuses soar again, as carrier profits triple

Evergreen Marine Corporation (EMC) is said to be offering bonuses of as much as 20 months’ salary to employees, while Yang Ming  and Wan Hai are offering payouts equivalent to up to 12 months’ and three months’ pay, respectively.

Thanks to the Red Sea crisis that absorbed tonnage last year, earnings at Taiwan’s three largest container shipping companies are the best outside the Covid-19-induced boom, and in line with industry performance.

The trio have a policy of not commenting on remuneration, but Taiwan news reports citing company sources have announced the figures, adding that the bonuses were credited to employees’ bank accounts on 31 December.

In addition, Yang Ming announced a 3% salary increase for all staff from 1 January. The partially state-owned carrier said the increments were in line with Taiwan’s civil service.

EMC’s net profit for the first nine months of 2024 were triple that of the corresponding year-ago period, at $3.5bn. Revenue for 9M 24 grew 68% YoY, to $11bn, as the Red Sea crisis drove container freight rates to levels not seen since Covid.

Over the same period, Yang Ming achieved a $1.63bn net profit, reversing a net loss in the year-ago period, while Wan Hai’s nine-month ’24 revenue was up 60% YoY, to $3.8bn, with a net profit of $1.1bn, reversing a net loss ia year ago.

After a difficult decade, the pandemic brought a windfall to the container shipping industry, and Evergreen paid as much as 40 months of salaries as year-end bonuses in 2021, more than 10 times that which its compatriots reportedly paid, which was said to have caused mass discontent among Yang Ming and Wan Hai employees.

Then, with record profits in 2022, Evergreen increased the top tier of its year-end bonus to 45-50 months’s pay, but the market correction in 2023 caused year-end bonuses to shrink drastically, to a maximum of six months.

Yang Ming chairman Tsai Feng-ming, who took office last year, had acknowledged the envy his employees felt at the generous bonuses paid by its rival.

Last September, he told journalists he would submit a salary increment plan to Yang Ming’s directors, and said: “Employees will enjoy a reasonable share of profits, and I’m proposing a salary adjustment plan to take care of employees and give them the best benefits.”