Taiwan shipping firm hands out mega bonuses worth 50 months' salary

Evergreen Marine Corp of Taiwan is rewarding some of its employees with incentives in honour of a remarkable year, handing out bonuses worth 50 months' salary.

According to a person familiar with the situation, the Taipei-based shipping company typically awards year-end bonuses amounting to 50 months of income, or more than four years' pay, Bloomberg has reported.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous because the information is private, said that the magnitude of the windfall varies depending on an employee's work grade and function, and the excessive bonuses are only valid for staff with Taiwan-based contracts.

Evergreen Marine said in a statement on Friday that year-end incentives have always been determined by the profitability of the company overall and the specific performance of its employees.

Evergreen Marine's generosity is the result of a shipping boom that has never before been seen in the past two years, which was sparked by an increase in demand for consumer products and freight prices brought on by the pandemic. A record NT$634.6 billion ($20.7 billion) in revenue is predicted for the corporation in 2022, more than double 2020 sales, reports Bloomberg.

Evergreen Marine's annual revenue surges

According to Taipei's news outlet "Economic Daily News" this week, Evergreen Marine, which made headlines in early 2021 when a ship it managed became trapped in the Suez Canal and disrupted supply systems, gave out incentives that may equal up to 52 months of wages. The news source said that certain employees received payouts of more than $65,000 on 30 December 2022 without citing its source.

However, not every employee at Evergreen Marine has been so fortunate. According to local workers cited in Caixin's report, the company's Shanghai-based employees have complained about receiving incentives that are only worth between five and eight times their monthly pay.

The most recent pay day might be the best thing for the immediate future, though. Shipping firms have issued a warning that this year's profits will likely suffer from the combination of quickly slowing global growth and declining freight prices. Evergreen Marine's shares experienced a 54% decline in 2017 following a remarkable 250% increase in 2021.