Evergreen Group (長榮集團) chairman Chang Yung-fa (張榮發) was awarded a royal medal by the Netherlands on Sunday for his contribution to the world economy, becoming the first Taiwanese to receive the honor from the country.
Chang, who runs one of the world’s biggest shipping companies, was presented with the Commander of the Order of -Orange-Nassau by Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, on behalf of Queen Beatrix.
“I am determined,” Chang said at the award ceremony.
Photo: CNA
Chang, who is now in his 80s, founded the conglomerate in 1968 to offer shipping, transportation and related services. He now chairs a multinational corporation that owns more than 180 container ships and 60 passenger planes.
He said that more than 30 years ago, it was nearly an impossible task for Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) to break into the European market, which was monopolized by the members of the Far Eastern Freight Conference.
However, Chang said, he did not back down in the face of competition, but instead overcame the obstacles and launched European operations in 1979 at the Port of Rotterdam — one of the world’s busiest container seaports.
At the presentation ceremony, Aboutaleb said the Evergreen conglomerate has played an integral role in boosting the economic development of Rotterdam and the rest of the world.
Chang presented Aboutaleb with a delicate piece of Taiwanese handicraft that featured a painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh.
The Netherlands award follows similar honors granted to Chang by Belgium, France, Italy, Malaysia, Panama and the UK in recognition of his achievements in the field of marine transportation.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
A man walks past real-estate advertisements outside a house in Taipei yesterday. The central bank yesterday said it plans to establish an “Inflation-at-Risk” gauge as a supplementary tool for observing inflation, as policymakers express wish to communicate more effectively with the public when making inflation forecasts.
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS