Taiwanese container line Evergreen Marine is handing out more bonus cash as it continues to reward staff for a record 2022.
The Straits Times reported that the owner had decided to reward employees with extra salary equal to between 10 and 11 months’ pay in mid-year bonuses in the week it announced a huge TWD 367bn (nearly $12bn) profit for the year.
At the end of 2022, the group had awarded bonuses worth up to a little over four years’ pay.
News of the largesse has spread rapidly in Taiwan, with social media posters saying the company has been “very generous”.
Not surprisingly, an online survey has revealed Evergreen is the number one dream employer for Taiwanese people.
The shipowner has not commented, but has previously said workers are being rewarded for their performance.
Annual profit soared as Evergreen continued to benefit from unprecedented strength in the container market, even though spot freight rates returned to historical norms later in the year.
Revenue came in at TWD 627bn, a slump from TWD 489bn the previous year.
The container market hit dizzying heights in the second half of 2021, which continued into 2022 as pandemic-related supply-chain disruption forced hundreds of boxships worldwide to wait for berths amid surging demand for containerised goods.
This caused average spot freight rates for containers being shipped from China to the west coast of the US, for example, to stay above $10,000 per 40-foot equivalent unit (feu) during the period, according to the Freightos Baltic Index.
Spot freight rates, which historically stayed below $3,000 per feu, peaked at more than $20,000 per feu in September 2021 before staying above $13,000 per feu for almost the entire first half of 2022.
