Gdynia-America Shipping Lines S.A. (Gdynia America Line - GAL) was a Polish-Danish joint stock company based in Gdynia, established in 1930 under the name of the Polish Transatlantic Shipping Company Limited (PTTO) in order to mark the Polish presence on the Atlantic; in 1934 transformed into Gdynia-America Shipping Lines.
Origins
In 1930 the Polish government, faced with growing emigration to North and South America, decided to purchase an existing shipping line (including ships and existing organizational apparatus) with the right to use piers in New York. After the failure of negotiations with Germany, the Baltic American Line owned by the Danish shipping company, the East Asiatic Company Limited (EAC, Det Ostasiatitske Kompagni) in Copenhagen was chosen. This line had three steam passenger ships named Polonia (ex-Kursk, built 1910), Estonia (ex-Czar, built 1912) and Lithuania (ex-Czaritza, built 1915) which were registered in Latvia.
Sale to Poland
The Danish owners became eager to sell their interests, as in 1931 the United States authorities severely reduced immigrant quotas and the line was threatened with bankruptcy.