Polish Steamship Company (PZM) subsidiary Zegluga Polska is set to take on the role of strategic investor in state-owned Polska Zegluga Baltycka (PZB), the Kolobrzeg-based company that operates Polferries.
The investor, PZB, and Poland's Ministry of Infrastructure signed the agreement on Monday, November 9. The two companies will continue to be state-owned.
"Zegluga Polska, that is PZM, is becoming a strategic investor in Polska Zegluga Baltycka to secure its financial liquidity and actively compete to ensure that as many trucks and passengers as possible use our services," said Arkadiusz Marchewka, Deputy Infrastructure Minister.
PZB has faced financial difficulties since this last summer. Amounts owed to employees and suppliers, including Scandinavian ports, were estimated at up to PLN100 million (USS25 million).
Marchewka said the company's financial condition had improved in recent months but that it still required capital and organisational support.
PZM Director General Dariusz Doskocz said the two companies would keep separate corporate identities, partly because of the difference in the contracts each operator has concluded in recent years.
He described the planned operational integration as extensive and confirmed that the Polferries and Unity Line brands would continue, as would PZB's headquarters in Kolobrzeg.
PZB operates five ferries. Together with Unity Line, which is owned by PZM and Euroafrica, it forms an 11-ferry operation under the joint Polsca brand, which began operating in March on the Swinoujscie–Ystad, Swinoujscie–Trelleborg and Gdansk–Nynashamn routes.
Marchewka said the ferry Bursztyn Unity would sail under the Polish flag and that the remaining ferries would be reflagged to Poland in 2027.
The 195.6-metre LNG-hybrid vessel is scheduled to enter service between Swinoujscie and Ystad on November 18. She can carry 400 passengers and offers 4,100 lane metres of freight capacity, matching her sister ship Jantar Unity.
Construction of the third ferry in the series began in August, and she is due to enter service in 2029.
