The only recent hiccup in Mark Ching’s investment portfolio came in the form of a stink bug. Ching owns a third of global shipping company Armacup, which came afoul of authorities late last year when it was found that a ship bound for New Zealand was carrying brown marmorated stink bugs.
An NZIER report published this February estimates a stink bug incursion would wipe up to $3.6 billion from New Zealand’s GDP by 2038.
The ship was intercepted and kept offshore. It was a small blip for Armacup, which pioneered the Japanese car import trade in the early 1990s.
Armacup’s fleet consists of three huge car and truck carriers, each with a capacity of 4900 cars, which ply their trade between New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, South Korea, Europe, Canada and the South Pacific.
Ching sold down his stake to Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA, a Norwegian global logistics company with assets of $4.7 billion.
Ching’s property interests stretch from Queenstown to Omaha in New Zealand and he also has a half share in Fiji’s Vomo Island Resort, the five-star luxury private island which charges from $1700-4800 a night for one of its 28 villas
Since 2003, Armacup has supported Cure Kids, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of Kiwi kids living with serious health conditions and illnesses.
2018: $60 million