CMA CGM is launching a new service between the South Pacific and the US East Coast through its new space charter agreement with Maersk. The new service will offer transshipment options for CMA CGM's standalone trans-Atlantic service to and from Oceania.

The carrier said in a statement Tuesday that its new KEA service will begin with the early February departure of the 3,752-TEU Spirit of Melbourne from Sydney, with a South Pacific rotation that includes Melbourne and New Zealand's Port Chalmers and Tauranga.

KEA's Americas calls include the Panamanian transshipment ports of Balboa and Manzanillo, along with Cartagena in Colombia. KEA will also call Philadelphia and Charleston, with CMA CGM marketing KEA as a “dedicated and fast service for fresh fruits and frozen food from Oceania to the US East Coast.”

CMA CGM and Maersk this month filed a space charter agreement with the Federal Maritime Commission for trade between the US East Coast and the South Pacific on Maersk's OC-1 service. The agreement calls for CMA CGM to purchase 350 TEUs, or 4,900 metric tons of space, including 100 reefer plugs, on each roundtrip sailing.

CMA CGM said the Maersk-operated KEA service will complement CMA CGM’s existing Panama Direct Line from the South Pacific, with full US East Coast port coverage and transshipment options to ports in Northern Europe.

USEC imports from Oceania growing

While container trade between the South Pacific and US East Coast was flat prior to 2021, it has shown growth since then, albeit from a small base. Between 2021 and 2024, Oceania import volumes to the US East Coast grew at an annual average rate of 5.8%, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, reaching 108,198 TEUs last year.

Year to date through November 2025, Oceania imports to the US East Coast have grown 9%, PIERS data shows. Thanks to its dominance in the refrigerated produce trade, Philadelphia has captured almost two-thirds of that market.