Yang Ming (America) Corporation, the general agent in North and South America of Taiwan-based ocean common carrier Yangming Marine Transport Corp., will consolidate and restructurae its North American offices to realize operating efficiencies that provide customers with a higher level of service, company officials announced today.

The Company's US operations, which have been distributed among several regional offices, will be consolidated into fewer strategically located regional service centers in order to better service customers on both coasts and in between. The Houston Service Support Center will be expanded to absorb more corporate functions and become the Business Support Center (BSC) for Yang Ming in North America. Its location in the Central time zone will enhance the Company's ability to efficiently service customers located on both coasts and in between. The Atlanta service center will provide a Company presence closer to an important Southeast customer base. A small corporate presence will remain in Jersey City, New Jersey, just outside New York City.

"In a more challenging environment it makes sense to take advantage of the efficiencies we can gain by consolidating and restructuring our regional offices and working processes," commented Spring C.C. Wu, President and CEO of Yang Ming (America) Corp. "This move will position Yang Ming for continued top class customer service quality with better cost efficiency under today's business environment.'

The change should be transparent to customers, since sales offices and terminal operations will be unaffected. Transition plans will minimize any disruptions to service caused by this move.

The structural change will affect Yang Ming's workforce. While there will be an overall reduction in the size of the workforce, some new positions will be added in the new Atlanta and expanded Houston and Chicago regional service centers. The company is offering a competitive relocation package for employees who wish to apply for jobs in these regional service centers. Affected employees who do not relocate will be eligible for a package of benefits, including severance pay, 3 months company-paid COBRA -medical insurance continuation coverage and professional outplacement assistance.

"We're doing our best to minimize the effect on Yang Ming employees," added Mr. Wu. "We hope that many will be able to continue their careers with Yang Ming."

The consolidation and restructure will start immediately and is expected to be fully implemented by mid May of 2009.