In the post-war period of the late 1940s, UAC decided to divest its shipping fleet to become an independent company in its own right.

This was done by reviving the dormant articles of association of the old Southern Whaling and Sealing Company, which Lever Bros. had bought in 1919 then sold to Christian Salvesen Ltd in 1941, and changing the name to Palm Line.

To enter most of the rivers, ships must pass over these bars; 27 feet (8.2 m) being the maximum draught to serve all ports.

It was common practice for all vessels to call in at Freetown both south- and northbound to take on both fuel bunkers and 'Krooboys' - additional local West African crew members; their duties being mainly chipping, painting and hold cleaning.

From 1982 until 1986 the dramatic drop in Europe / West Africa trade meant the increasing need to charter the vessels out to third parties.

From Jun-Dec 2018 the museum had a temporary exhibition entitled 'Palm Line - A new company for a new era', with a scale-model of MV Matadi Palm (1970) as its centrepiece.

Sold in 1972 to Panama and renamed Savoydean She suffered a fire on 24 July 1975 in Calcutta, and was eventually scrapped in April 1976 at Bombay.

In 1985 sold to Venezuelan owners and renamed General Salom Powered by a 3-cyl engine from North-Eastern Marine Engineering Co (1938) Ltd (Wallsend).18 Nov 1962 sank in Naples harbour where she had arrived from Leghorn to load 400 tons of general cargo.

Powered by a 4500bhp 4-cyl 2-stroke Doxford marine diesel Sold in 1972 to Barada Shipping & Trading Co, Famagusta; renamed Irene's Grace Resold in 1977 to Palineon Shipping Co, Piraeus Broken up in Jun 1981 in Bombay In 1985 she was taken over by UAC, who renamed her Badagry.

Tragically the Cordigliera sank with all (23) hands in very rough weather off Port St Johns, South Africa 31°21′S 30°1′E / 31.350°S 30.017°E / -31.350; 30.017 on 14 Nov 1996, after issuing out a distress to Durban radio at 10:30pm .

On 18 December 1980 she appeared in a front-page article of the UK Sunday Express newspaper under the headline 'Drama At Sea As Gales Sweep Coast'.

Bamenda Palm had accidentally rammed a Romanian fish factory ship whilst entering Carrick Roads, Falmouth harbour during the early hours in a southerly force 9 gale.

The fish-factory ship was holed just below the water-line midships on the port side by the bulbous bow of the Bamenda Palm[1].

As Lloyd Texas she sailed from South Shields to Teesport, Middlesbrough to load cement for the new RAF runway in Ascension Island.

In 1983 renamed Eurco and finally scrapped at Chittagong in 1983 Ordered as Empire Birdsay for the MOWT.A Type-C wartime standard cargo ship.

This did not wholly compensate for the lack of a double-bottom and made discharging the unrefined oil in N.Europe during winter time more difficult.

Getting the remainder of the expensive oil from the bottom of each tank was an arduous, manual and messy job called "puddling".

For a long period in the 1970s, following the 1966 National Union of Seaman strike, all deck crew (not officers) were from Galicia in Spain, rather than from the British Shipping Federation.

She was eventually scrapped in October 1968 Sold in 1960 to Aristidis SS Co, Piraeues and renamed Aristoteles She sank on 16 December 1962 off Funchal whilst en route from Detroit to Calcutta.