When the price of cotton plummeted after 1929, bananas became the most profitable crop in the empire.

Following Italy's entry into World War II, the banana boats were reclassified for naval use and saw service off the coast of Africa and in the Mediterranean.

Of its seven ships, only Ramb III survived the war and was converted to a personal yacht for Josip Broz Tito, president of SFR Yugoslavia.

After Italy regained administrative control of Somalia in 1950, the government reactivated the Banana Monopoly as the Azienda Monopolio Banana (AMB) with the intent of revitalizing the heavily damaged agricultural industry.

[3] The AMB continued to regulate the price and marketing of bananas in Somalia until its dissolution in 1964, four years after the country gained independence.