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Polish Ocean Lines Inc (ID: 8339)
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The tradition of POLISH OCEAN LINES, the largest Polish liner shipping company goes back to April 1930 when GDYNIA AMERICA SHIPPING LINES were established along with the port of Gdynia development, Poland's only gateway to the world at that time. GAL - Gdynia America Shipping Lines with seven ocean-going vessels provided passenger traffic between Gdynia and North America (New York and Halifax) linking over four million Polish immigrants in the United States with Poland. In 1935 GAL inaugurated regular cargo services to South American and US Gulf ports. During the Second World War the Company moved its headquarters to London. After the war on January 1st 1951 the enterprise was wound up and on the next day POLISH OCEAN LINES as a state company were established in Gdynia. At the beginning POLISH OCEAN LINES possessed 43 ships (215,000 DWT) which were trading on 12 regular lines. During the decades of the sixties and seventies the Company was rapidly developing. The number of vessels owned was constantly increasing and the new regular lines were established. The seventies were also a decade of containerisation. As a consequence 34 thousand of containers had been bought and 23 modern vessels had been introduced into the service during the eighties. In the nineties, following historic changes, which took place in Poland and former East Bloc countries, a holding structure consisting of mother company and its subsidiaries set up on the basis of the shipping lines operated by POL was established. By virtue of the Commercialisation Act signed by Polish Minister of Treasure, the legal status of Polish Ocean Lines was changed from the State Enterprise into the Join Stock Company with effect from 1st July 1999. 100% of shares in POL capital ware held by the State, represented by the Ministry of Treasure. Commercialisation of Polish Ocean Lines was the first step on the way to the company's privatisation. At the beginning of April 2000 the privatisation of Polish Ocean Lines was completed. The new issue of shares was taken over by a consortium consisting of Gdynia Shipyard, WARTA Insurance Company, Kredyt Bank and the Agency for Industrial Development. This means that more than 75% of POL's share capital is now controlled by the consortium, while the rest remains in state hands. As Poland's first privatised shipping company, the new supervisory board is working on overcoming current problems and bringing Polish Ocean Lines back into full action. Scope of Activities: Sea carriage of cargo Container, Ro-Ro, multi-purpose tonnage Cargo flow management Commercial and technical ship management Logistic services Shipping activity is entrusted to the folowing ships operating companies listed below: POL-LEVANT Shipping Lines Ltd, Gdynia (established in 1993) It is operating 4 Ro-Ro vessels and 4 general cargo vessels on the Mediterranean route. Yearly carryings of POL-LEVANT Shipping Lines during 1998 were equal to 539,260 tons of cargoes including shipments in 8,787 TEU. BALTIC CONTAINER LINES Ltd, Gdynia (formed in 1995) The company operates 3 time-chartered vessels in the Baltic trade linking Riga, Klaipeda, Kaliningrad with Gdynia, Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Antwerp. Yearly carryings in 1998 were effected in 63,200 TEU. The tradition of POLISH OCEAN LINES, the largest Polish liner shipping company goes back to April 1930 when GDYNIA AMERICA SHIPPING LINES were ... Polish Ocean Lines Inc