The partners of the project are the Elder Dempster Lines Pensioners Association, the Centre for Port and Maritime History, Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Liverpool, Fourah Bay Reunion Association, Old Obuasians, Liverpool Nautical Research Society, Ocean Nestorians Association, and the Igbo Community Association of Liverpool. The project has been supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The first phase has been to collect oral testimonies of former EDL staff, and they record a way of life that has disappeared with the many changes that have taken place over the past decades. The archive is an important resource in the history of both Liverpool and West Africa, and will be developed further with the inclusion of a digitised record of the material culture of the company, together with educational outreach work.