Evergreen Group, a Taiwan-based conglomerate providing shipping and logistic services, said Monday that plummeting fuel prices across the globe could help the industry generate more profits this year.

Operating costs of both its air and marine shipping businesses could drop by 20 percent compared with the same period of last year, said Group Vice Chairman Hsieh Chih-chien.

Thanks to a recovering global economy and especially positive gross domestic product prospects for the United States, Hsieh said the group is expecting a promising market in 2015.

“Evergreen has been working a lot in the U.S. market, and with more vessels and aircraft to be added into the Taiwan-U.S. network, we are very optimistic about our performance,” Hsieh said during the company’s annual briefing.

For instance, he said, its affiliate EVA Airways Corp. (EVA), the nation’s second-largest air carrier, will take delivery of 12 new aircraft this year, which will be used on U.S. routes.

EVA said it will launch three weekly round-trip flights between Taipei Taoyuan International Airport and Houston, Texas beginning June 19.

The airline said it hopes the new route could expand its market base to the southern U.S. EVA currently operates flights to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and the U.S. unicorporated territory of Guam.