To ensure its foreign trade and shipping were independent, the port of Gdynia was built, mainly due to the efforts of Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, along with several shipyards serving both the Polish Navy and the merchant marine.

However, by the late 1930s the shipyards gathered enough experience and a decision was made to build a large dry cargo ship for the Polish merchant marine, the first such vessel built entirely at home.

Designed by Henryk Giełdzik, the ship was named SS Olza, after an eponymous river flowing through Cieszyn Silesia.

Most of the elements were produced by Świętochłowice-based Zgoda Steel Works, while minor parts were purchased from other contractors in Poland and the United Kingdom.

Because of that, it was decided to launch the ship prematurely on 8 September 1939, in order to block the slipway in case the shipyard came under German control.