THE six 18,000-TEU ships named after the great explorers will be deployed on the transpacific market to accelerate its growth, says French shipping giant CMA CGM.

This flies in the face of conventional wisdom, which holds that ships of this size would be confined to the Asia-Europe trades where there is enough deep water for them to operate efficiently.

"This decision is in line with both the growth strategy set by the group in the United States and around the world and the optimisation of its fleet," said a company statement.

"The flagship fleet of the group will henceforth be deployed on the most active and dynamic market to date - the transpacific market - and will support its development as well as that of its customers," it said.

The ships include the CMA CGM Bougainville, CMA CGM Kerguelen, CMA CGM Georg Forster, CMA CGM Vasco de Gama, CMA CGM Zheng He and the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin.

The CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin became the biggest ship ever to call in the United States last December and was inaugurated on February 19 in Long Beach, in the presence of Jacques Saade, chairman and CEO of CMA CGM, 450 customers, eminent persons from the economic and political spheres and institutional figures.

The CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin will remain on the transpacific market. "The other five 18,000-TEU vessels will join her on the Pearl River Express line." said the statement.

These ships are among the largest in the world. They are equipped with the latest environmental technology and they will significantly reduce CMA CGM's carbon footprint, said the company.

CMA CGM, world No 3 container line after Maersk and MSC, has 470 vessels calling at 400 ports on all five continents. In 2015, they carried 13 million TEU and employs 22,000 people worldwide, including 2,400 in its headquarters in Marseilles.