ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the situation in the troubled state operator Polskie Linie Oceanizne – otherwise known as Polish Ocean Lines (POL), but will more specifically consider one of the new companies that has emerged from the parent, in this case POL Levant. POL originated in 1920 as Gdynia-America Line, progressing after the end of the second world war as Polish Ocean Lines and from then on as a state owned operator. POL was always a large ship operator even by world standards with, for some years, over 250 vessels. The shipping companies themselves, including POL had no rights to retain income and were forced to declare and hand over all income to the state. In 1986, for reasons that seem to be lost in the mists of time, the Ministry decided to reconsolidate POL back into a single organisation located at a single location in Gdynia – against much of the expressed desire of the divisions within the company.
