Employees get 5-year salary as bonus from firm responsible for Suez blockage

When a 2.20 lakh tonne ship Ever Given stranded in the Suez Canal blocked a key sea route between Asia and Europe, it caused a $54 billion loss in six days. But despite the fiasco hitting 12 per cent of global trade, the ship's Taiwanese parent firm Evergreen generated 1300 per cent higher profits apart from several memes.

Two years after that, it has provided 5 years of salary as bonus to its employees, after record high profits in 2022.

Not the first hefty reward for employees

• The bonus released will be divided among 3,100 staff members, which means each of them will receive Rs 16 lakh.

• The bonus announced now, comes in addition to one worth their 50-month salary awarded in December 2022.

• The company had also given a bonus equivalent to employee salaries for 40 months, back in December 2021, the same year as the Suez fiasco.

Buoyed by earnings, undeterrred by recession

• Evergreen has gained tremendously from the resumption of global trade ever since the pandemic restrictions were lifted.

• But the shipping industry is facing a new storm, with headwinds such as a recession and a decline in freight rates.

• As a result a surge of 250 per cent for Evergreen stocks in 2021, was followed by a 54 per cent crash last year.

• Although the slowdown on the horizon hasn't stopped Evergreen from sharing its earnings with the staff.