The CMA CGM Group has extended its Black Pearl ocean container service to the west coast of South America. The service will now call ports in Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Chile. As of Dec. 12, 2010, the upgraded service will offer direct service from Ecuador, Chile and Peru to Philadelphia, Penn. and Halifax, N.S. Also included is extended coverage of the Caribbean region, Mexican Gulf and east coast of South America, with transshipments at Kingston, Jamaica. The line is providing connections to and from the Far East (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chiwan and Busan) for cargo from the South American west coast via transshipments in Balboa, Panama on the PEX3 service, and to and from North Europe (Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre) through the Kingston hub on the ECS service. Expanded reefer capacity is available for exports from the west coast of South America to the U.S. market. The Black Pearl service will deploy a fleet of six 1,100-twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) vessels.
