The Asmara-Massawa Cableway was built by the Italians in 1938 in Eritrea, with the work done by the Ceretti and Tanfani Italian engineering firm. It connected the port of Massawa with the city of Asmara and ran a distance of some 75 kilometres. It moved food, supplies and war materials for the Imperial Italian Army then conquering Ethiopia. The British later dismantled it in 1941, salvaging the diesel engines during their eleven year occupation after defeating the Italians in World War II. The towers stood for many years and were scrapped in the 1980s in the re-building following the civil war.