The Africa was launched on January 24, 1951 under construction number 1763 at CR dell'Adriatico in Monfalcone and, after being taken over by Lloyd Triestino in February 1952, put into service on the line from Genoa to Cape Town .
In 1960 the ship was modernized. In 1967 it switched to the route from Trieste via Cape Town to Mombasa . There it remained in service for another nine years before the operation was no longer worthwhile due to the increasing competition from scheduled flights and it was retired in January 1976.
The Africa was in Trieste launched and Protea renamed. In March 1980, the ship went to Panama- based Super Winston Enterprises , who in turn sold it to Taiwan for scrapping. On May 3, 1980, the Protea arrived at the Nan Yet Steel Enterprise Company's scrapping yard in Kaohsiung .
