The Grand Alliance has announced that it will lay up vessels during the traditional slack season, and will restructure its Asia-North Europe EU2 service. Meanwhile, OOCL will launch a new Asia-India-Middle East Service (AIM).Following a meeting in Singapore, the CEOs of the Grand Alliance member lines engaged in the transpacific trade (Hapag-Lloyd, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Orient Overseas Container Line) have announced that the Alliance will lay up vessels, effective November 20, 2006.MISC Berhad, the fourth member of the Grand Alliance, is not engaged in this trade.The lay up will amount to approximately 3,000 TEU per week – equivalent to the Alliance’s estimated decrease in transport volume.During this time, ship operators will conduct any maintenance required on the vessels.Grand Alliance member lines will continue to provide sufficient capacity to meet customers' requirements throughout this period.In other news, the Grand Alliance member lines (including MISC Berhad) have announced the restructuring of the Asia-North Europe EU2 service from early-2007.An additional ship will be deployed to the current eight-ship service, now offering nine ships for a 63-day turnaround time service.Following the successful implementation of this change, the Alliance intends to further enhance additional services through similar restructuring in the near future.The current EU2 rotation is: Kaohsiung - Shekou - Yantian - Hong Kong - Singapore - LeHarve - Amsterdam - Hamburg - Antwerp - Southampton - Gioia Tauro - Jeddah - Jebel Ali - Singapore - Kaohsiung.Meanwhile, OOCL will launch a new Asia-India-Middle East Service (AIM) on November 11th, by taking slots from Emirates Shipping Line.OOCL’s new service will provide direct linkage and additional frequency between China, South East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East.It will offer extensive coverage of the Middle East and India, with the ports of Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Klang, Colombo, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Jebel Ali, Dammam, and Abu Dhabi.