About

Evergreen Marine Corporation is a Taiwanese container transportation and shipping company located in Taoyuan, Taiwan. It grew popular after the Suez Canal Jam incident in early 2021 that involved one of Evergreen's cargo megaships named "Ever Given." After the Suez Canal Jam, other blunders by the company's vehicles became fodder for memes in Asia.

History

On September 1st, 1968, Taiwanese businessman Yung-Fa Chang established the cargo vessel service named Central Trust that operated in the Middle East, East Asia, Central Asia, and the US under the name Evergreen Marine Corporation in 1974.^[1]

Suez Canal Jam

On March 23rd, 2021, Evergreen's cargo megaship Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea -- one of the world's busiest trade routes.^[2] The 400-meter-long (1,312 feet) ship was knocked off course by strong winds, blocking the canal sideways at the southern end of the canal and creating a massive ship jam.

Later that day, Instagram^[3] user @fallenhearts17 (Julianne Cona) posted a photograph of the ship made from a vessel behind that received over 10,900 likes in one day (shown below).

Similar Incidents

While jokes about Evergreen containers spiked after the Suez Canal Jam, the company had become the subject of memes before. For example, on October 14th, 2020, Facebook^[7] page E100 uploaded a photo of a truck whose axle broke while doing a U-turn, blocking the road at Surabaya, Indonesia. The post became popular again not long after the Suez Canal Jam incident, and it gained more than 3,000 reactions and 1,800 shares (shown below).

After the Suez Canal Jam, some memers began to make fun of traffic jams and accidents involving trucks with Evergreen containers. On March 27th, 2021, Facebook^[4] page 長男次男 uploaded a photo of a traffic jam caused by a truck at Changsen Expressway Nanjing Ring Road, China. The post received more than 5,600 reactions and 10,000 shares (shown below, both left and right).

On September 27th, 2021, Facebook^[5] page "Dinas Perhubungan Kota Surabaya – Surabaya Transport Department" uploaded a photo from CCTV of a traffic jam at Surabaya, Indonesia caused by a container truck. The post received 710 reactions and more than 1,500 shares (shown below, both left and right).

On October 16th, 2021, Indonesian media outlet Detikcom^[9][10][11] uploaded articles about a truck and car accident in Cipularang toll road, Indonesia, that involved a truck hauling the Evergreen container, in which 1 people died, 7 people were injured, and a traffic jam was caused (shown below, both left and right).

On December 11th, 2021, Twitter^[6] user @ILoveJepara uploaded a photo of a container truck blocking a road at Mantingan, Jepara, Indonesia (shown below, left). On the same day, Facebook^[8] user Jhoni Tampobusono uploaded a photo of the same truck with different angle to "Waktu Indonesia Shitposting" group. The post received more than 2,100 reactions and 2,200 shares (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References