After World War 2, Germany once again had basically no merchant fleet. In partnership with the Swedish-American Line, a holding company called the Bremen-America Line was formed in 1954, its sole ship being the 1924-built 18,000-tonner Gripsholm. She was renamed the Berlin in 1955 and began flying the NDL colours, but SAL retained half-interest in her until 1959. She continued in this service, with occasional cruises, until 1966, when she was finally sent to the breakers.

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The Pasteur had been built in 1938 as a liner for the South American trade, but the war broke out right before her maiden voyage, and she ended up serving as a British troopship instead. After ten years in the French colonial trade, she was laid up and purchased by NDL. Renamed the Bremen, she was completely refit, with a new funnel. She was very successful on the North Atlantic trade, with cruises in the winter, until 1971, when she closed out regular transatlantic service for the Germans.

She was sold to a subsidiary of Chandris, where she sailed as the Regina Magna. Fuel costs laid to further layup and neglect, and she was sold again in 1977 for use as a workers' accommodation ship in Saudi Arabia. This lasted only 3 years, and she sunk in the Arabian Sea while under tow to Indian shipbreakers.

In 1966, NGL bought another Swedish liner, the Kungsholm of 1953. At 21,000 GRT and carrying 500 passengers, she was less than half the size of her predecessor and carried only a quarter of the people.

In 1981, she was sold to Costa and was renamed the Columbus C. This phase lasted until 1985, when she was sold for scrap.

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