In the early eighties the upcoming Evergreen Marine Corporation developed plans to operate a round-the-world service for container lines. This bold step included frequent calls in all major container ports on an East-West and West-East service, and the introduction of a large, new series of container ships, now considered to quite small, but with around 2700 TEU at the time, these were among the most flexible larger units in the trade. The Ever G-class as they became known, ultimately consisted of 32 units, produced by only three shipyards from 1983-1998. These yards were IHI (6) Onomichi (11) and the balance (15) came from China Shipbuilding Corp. And where its competitor US-Lines faltered when trying to introduce a similar (but one-directional) service, Evergreen emerged as a force to be reckoned with to this day.

Shown is the EVER GUARD (IHI 2816) incoming Rotterdam mid eighties, also wearing the original lettering on the hull. I am not sure but this could very well be the first of the G-Class.