Polsteam headquarters in Szczecin |
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Shipping |
| Founded | January 2, 1951 |
| Headquarters | Szczecin, Poland |
| Area served | Global |
| Key people | Paweł Szynkaruk (CEO) |
| Website | polsteam.com.pl |
Polsteam, formerly known as the Polish Steamship Company (in Polish: Polska Żegluga Morska, PŻM), is a cargo ship operator based in Szczecin, Poland. Polsteam is state-owned with around 3,000 employees.
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Polsteam was founded in 1951, nationalizing the assets of two Polish pre-WWII marine freight companies (Gdynia-Ameryka Linie Żeglugowe SA and Żegluga Polska), making it the oldest Polish cargo ship operator in existence.[1]
Initially Polstem's fleet comprised 11 ships of joint carrying capacity of approx 27,000 DWT.[2] Among those ships there were: four of the so-called. French ship's, which were steamer's built in 1926 in French shipyard of Chantiers Navals Francais in Blainville: SS Wieluń, SS Kraków, SS Toruń, SS Poznań, the oldest of the acquired ships was SS Narocz (2,520 DWT) built in 1915 in Great Britain, SS Narew (310 DWT) a small coaster built in 1944 in Germany and SS Elbląg (1,699 DWT) built in 1944. Four ships of B-30 series, constructed in 1949 in Gdańsk Shipyard: SS Sołdek (first ship in the post-WWII history of the Polish shipbuilding industry), SS Jedność Robotnicza, SS Pstrowski and SS Brygada Makowskiego (built in 1950).[2]
In the first years of Polstem's existence the ship owner's vessels navigated on short and midrange sea rutes (ie the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Mediterranean Sea). In the course of the first five years coal, wood, iron ore. 80-90 % per that shipping involved traping services and although the ship operator had three lines since 1951 namely: Szczecin - Stockholm, Szczecin - London - Rouen and Szczecin - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Antwerp.[2]
It operates a fleet of 75 vessels (total: 2,500,000 DWT), mostly dry bulk carriers. Polsteam's particular specialty is the transportation of liquid sulfur.[3]
Polsteam also operates a passenger ferry service between Świnoujście and the Swedish ports of Ystad and Trelleborg via its subsidiary Unity Line.