POLSTEAM PILE - Polsteam's 4th new bulk carrier

Source - Maritime Poland (Polska Morska)

On 26 September 2024, the ceremonial handover and christening of the newest ship of Polish Shipping - m/s POLSTEAM PILE - took place at the Chinese Shanhaiguan shipyard in Qinhungdao (Hebei province). It is a 37,000 tonne vessel, belonging to the s-called laker-max class.

The ship’s godmother was Karolina Borchardt, a senior ship operator from Zaklad Eksploatacji Floty PZM.

M/S POLSTEAM PILE is already the fourth of twelve 37,000-tonne lake vessels ordered by Polska Zegluga Morska from the shipyard of the Chinese Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) group. The previous three vessels: POLSTEAM DABIE, POLSTEAM KOPROWO and POLSTEAM LEBSKO entered service this year, while the next bulk carriers in the series will be delivered quarterly between 2025 and 2026.

The first eight vessels are equipped with energy efficient engines running on classic fuel. The last four will already be capable of burning emission free, ‘green’ methanol.

POLSTEAM PILE’s first voyage was commanded by a true veteran of Great Lakes navigation, Captain Piotr Mikolajczyk, who has already commanded the first of the POLSTEAM DABIE series of ships on it’s maiden voyage.

Like it’s three predecessors, the ship will load 29,200 tonnes of high-grade steel at the Asian ports of Lianyungang, China then Incheon and Kwangyang, South Korea. It will then head to Singapore for fuel before crossing the Pacific Ocean, passing through the Panama Canal, entering the Atlantic Ocean and heading to the American/Canadian Great Lakes unloading ports of Three Rivers, Hamilton and Windsor, Canada as well as Toledo, Ohio in the US.

All of the new Polsteam lake ships carry names of Polish lakes on their hulls. PILE is a beautiful lake in the Szczecin Lake District, in the Borne Sulinowo municipality. It is almost 9 kilometers long, nearly 3 kilometers wide and at it’s depth reaches as much as 44 meters.