Polish Ocean Lines

The line Oceaniczne Polskie SA, internationally primarily as Polish Ocean Lines ( POL short ), is a Polish shipping company based in Gdynia.

History

The POL was after the nationalization and merger of the three shipping companies Żegluga Polska, Polbryt ( a Polish- British joint venture ) and Gdynia America Shipping Lines founded on January 2, 1951. Initially, 13 scheduled services were operated with a 43 vessels counted fleet of over 200,000 deadweight tons. A number of European services were outsourced in the first ten years of existence in the newly established shipping company Polska Żegluga Morska.

From 1955, the fleet of POL has been greatly expanded. A special role came here to a group of 19 ships of the type of Gdansk Shipyard B-54, which has long formed the backbone of the fleet. New Services to Indonesia, Japan and the United States were built. For this purpose a transatlantic service from Poland in 1957 to start over with the passenger ship Batory, who led unlike the previous line to Canada.

As of 1960, the fleet grew to over 100 ships with a total deadweight of more than 800,000 tons. Known series of this decade were the types of B-55, B -516, B- 445 and B -41. The former flagship Batory in 1969, replaced by the newer acquired in the Netherlands Stefan Batory.

In the 1970s, the state-controlled Polish merchant fleet was reorganized. The POL was expanded to pure shipping line. To this end, they took a larger number of cargo ships with a capacity of around 100,000 tonnes by Polska Żegluga Morska. The latter was converted into a tramp shipping company and in return received tankers and tramps of the POL.

The container revolution was the POL in the 1970s by the service since new semi -and full- container ships into account. In addition Roroschiffe were built. The four ferries in 1977 spun off into the shipping company Polish Baltic Shipping Company in Kolobrzeg.

Overall, the fleet reached in the 1970s, a level of 176 ships with approximately 1.2 million deadweight tons, which carried more than five million tons per year. During this period, more than 10,000 people were employed, of whom about 80 percent sailors.

In the early 1980s came more modern Conro and Roroschiffe how the Inowrocław in ride, a series of eight multi-purpose vessels of the type Warszawa or three larger container ships of the type Cegielski for example, was in the later 1980s commissioned. Under the influence of Poland in the early 1980s, martial law ruling the shipping company, however, had to contend with greater difficulties, which led to losses. In 1988 the POL and the Stefan Batory from the drive and stopped the transatlantic passenger trade. In the late 1980s, the number of vessels operated was relatively moderate fallen to 97 units with approximately 914,000 deadweight tons. However, in the following decade the shipping company fell into a profound crisis, followed by a lengthy privatization.

Today, the POL acts as a ship carrying forming the carrier and the works next to it as a ship supplier.