Polaris Autoliners buys two car carriers from MSC’s Global Car Carriers
Feeder-size PCTCs lift the controlled fleet to 10 ships
Polaris Autoliners has bought two feeder-size car carriers from Global Car Carriers, adding short-sea capacity. The 2,000 ceu Viking Oslo and Viking Odessa have been renamed Polaris Oslo and Polaris Star, with sale-and-purchase sources putting the price for the pair at around $44m.
Both ships passed through Bermuda last month for the change of ownership and name. The 140-m Viking Odessa was built in 2009 and its sister Viking Oslo delivered in 2010. The deal lifts Polaris Autoliners' controlled fleet to 10 vessels, five owned and five chartered-in.
Polaris Autoliners is part of Polaris Group, the rebranded platform that combines the car carrier business with Polaris Logistics, chaired by Walid Salloum. The group, launched in London in 2022, handled more than 650,000 vehicles in 2025 across ocean, road, rail and terminal services, and added a bulk arm last September.
The sellers are the former Gram Car Carriers, taken over by MSC Group in 2024 and now branded Global Car Carriers, which describes itself as the world's third-largest provider of pure car and truck carrier tonnage with 30 ships on the water or under construction.
