Newcomer Polaris Autoliners has taken its first step into ship ownership, buying two car carriers from Gram Car Carriers.
Polaris has emerged as the buyer of the 2,000-ceu Viking Constanza (built 2010) and 1,000-ceu Viking Princess (built 1996), which Gram sold last year for a reported $43.5m in total.
The two ships are joining the Polaris fleet this month. The Viking Constanza has been renamed Polaris Liberty and the Viking Princess has been renamed Polaris Princess.
The additions boost the Polaris-operated fleet to six ships ranging between 1,000 ceu and 6,700 ceu. The others are on time charter.
The purchase is a big step forward in the development of Polaris, which has been in operation for less than a year.
Its emergence is a rare example of a new car carrier operator breaking into a market that is dominated by a handful of big companies.
It started in car carriers on a voyage charter basis before building an operated fleet through the long-term charter market and now ship ownership.
The company, which operates on the Atlantic and Europe Far East trade as well as European feeder service, is a spin-off of Germany’s Salloum Logistics and is led by founder Walid Salloum.
Polaris has established a base in London and taken on as chief executive Marius Toft, who was involved in developing the car carrier business at Eastern Pacific Shipping and was formerly business development manager for Siem Car Carriers.
The company has developed close relationships with car manufacturers in providing land and sea transport solutions at a time when the car carrier market is stretched.
Salloum described the acquisition of the Gram ships as a milestone in the development of his company.
“This shows our intention that we are serious and we want to grow the business,” he said.
“Now we have an opportunity to build up a fleet over the next few years and invest in the future — that I think is what we are aiming for.”
