Grand Alliance slows down on Japan–North Europe service

Tokyo: The Grand Alliance (GA) has added a ninth vessel of 6,200teu to its Japan-North Europe service (EU1), in order to operate its North Europe-Far East services at “ecospeeds that will reduce emissions by 20�"30 %.”

The move is part of an environment-friendly program by GA members Hapag-Lloyd, MISC Berhad, NYK and OOCL aimed at lowering emissions on services including those on Europe-Asia loops.

The port coverage of the EU1 service remains unchanged. Higher schedule contingencies have been allocated to compensate for delays in congested ports, which occur as a result of the high volume in global container traffic.  This allows GA to improve its schedule reliability without harming the environment.  [11/06/08]