Very interesting thread.
It's likely that nations capable of trade will start initially trading with other viable nations as they are the ones with things to trade. The Pacific between NZ/AUS and Japan should get busy fairly quickly and some of the intervening islands could raise cash/goods by acting as refuelling stations by producing fuel for the freighters.
The northern parts of South America and the Caribbean might also be an area of growth.
France is a different case. It's too far away from viable nations to set up trade routes and initially I see one off trips for vital goods like industrial diamonds, nuclear fuel etc.
Eventually it might be the nation to set up coalling stations as it is the one that benefits more from global trade.
Getting to California from Australia would be an adventure in itself but then you have to ask yourself, for what? There isn't much the US has to trade that justifies a regular trade route and by the time there is, the US probably won't want to be importing bulk food goods.
There could be a sort of reverse slave trade tricangle at somepoint where the Africans ship bulk goods to Europe, pick up refugees to sell to work as indentured workers on the sugar platations in Cuba and then use teh profits to ship sugar and booze back to Africa. I like the irony of this even though it's unlikely.
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