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Container line consortium the Grand Alliance has announced the implementation of a ninth vessel (6,200 TEU) as part of its environmentally-friendly programme aimed at lowering ship emissions.

The latest addition to the fleet will join the Grand Alliance's Japan/North Europe Service (EU1). It completes the consortium's eco-friendly project, which has been implemented on its North Europe to Far East Services.

According to the Grand Alliance the inclusion of additional vessels means the services can operate at an "ecospeed" which will reduce emissions by 20-30 percent. The four Grand Alliance partner lines have made substantial investments for the additional ships phased into their 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 the Grand Alliance to improve schedule reliability without harming the environment.

In a statement the consortium said "Grand Alliance lines hope that our customers will welcome these measures to significantly reduce emissions and further increase service quality."

Founded in 1998, the Grand Alliance is the leading integrated consortium in container liner shipping. Its members are Hapag-Lloyd, MISC Berhad, Malaysia, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), Japan, and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), Hong Kong. Last year the four member lines signed an agreement to extend their cooperation up to 2017.