Evergreen to re-flag 13 ships
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Evergreen Group founder Chang Yung-fa said Tuesday that Evergreen Marine, his group's container shipping line, will reregister a number of its ships back under the Singapore flag after having pulled them out seven years ago to avoid the country’s high fees.
Chang was in Singapore to announce the opening of Evergreen Marine (Singapore) and revealed his plan to have 13 ships presently flying the Panamanian flag to move to Singapore and raise the Singaporean flag, according to local media reports.
One vessel already began flying Singapore's flag earlier this month.
Evergreen originally pulled out of Singapore in 2002 because of what it saw as excessively high port fees and moved its fleet to nearby Malaysia.
The company decided to head back to the city state last December, however, to take advantage of Singapore's Approved International Shipping Enterprise scheme. Under the program, international shippers that establish their operations in Singapore get 10-year tax holidays on qualifying shipping income.
Chang also denied a report that Evergreen Marine, would pull out of Kaohsiung Port in southern Taiwan to save money at a time when cargo volumes are plummeting.
"How could it be possible that Evergreen withdraws its operations from the fifth container wharf of Kaohsiung Port, given that Kaohsiung is an irreplaceable operating base in southern Taiwan?" Chang said.
A Taiwanese TV station recently reported that Evergreen might halt operations at Kaohsiung Port and instead launch services at a container wharf at Taipei Port in northern Taipei County jointly run by Evergreen, Wan Hai Lines and Yang Ming Marine Transport.
Pulling out of Kaohsiung would help Evergreen save as much as $88.5 million a year in rental fees, the report claimed.
Chang was in Singapore to announce the opening of Evergreen Marine (Singapore) and revealed his plan to have 13 ships presently flying the Panamanian flag to move to Singapore and raise the Singaporean flag, according to local media reports.
One vessel already began flying Singapore's flag earlier this month.
Evergreen originally pulled out of Singapore in 2002 because of what it saw as excessively high port fees and moved its fleet to nearby Malaysia.
The company decided to head back to the city state last December, however, to take advantage of Singapore's Approved International Shipping Enterprise scheme. Under the program, international shippers that establish their operations in Singapore get 10-year tax holidays on qualifying shipping income.
Chang also denied a report that Evergreen Marine, would pull out of Kaohsiung Port in southern Taiwan to save money at a time when cargo volumes are plummeting.
"How could it be possible that Evergreen withdraws its operations from the fifth container wharf of Kaohsiung Port, given that Kaohsiung is an irreplaceable operating base in southern Taiwan?" Chang said.
A Taiwanese TV station recently reported that Evergreen might halt operations at Kaohsiung Port and instead launch services at a container wharf at Taipei Port in northern Taipei County jointly run by Evergreen, Wan Hai Lines and Yang Ming Marine Transport.
Pulling out of Kaohsiung would help Evergreen save as much as $88.5 million a year in rental fees, the report claimed.