 On 27 April 1940, , she was given the southbound run and made her inaugural voyage to South America from Trieste to Buenos Aires, carrying a number of immigrants from Europe to Brazil and Argentina.She stopped in Split, Naples, Genoa, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Funchal, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Santos.In Gibraltar, the ship was detained for 6 hours on 6 May by the Allied Forces Port Authorities, who removed 1750 postal bags originating from Germany and handed back about 1000 mailing bags previously apprehended on the Oceania and duly examined.