Sea-Land, Maersk add Suez route.

The new world of shipping consortia is beginning to take shape.

Two of the largest of the new multicarrier alliances opened 1996 by announcing details of new services that begin operation this year.

Maersk and Sea-Land will add an Asia/U.S. East Coast service through the Suez Canal in the next phase of their worldwide cooperation pact.

Meanwhile, linehaul services will be extended to the Chinese port of Shanghai and the Thai port of Laem Chabang by both the Maersk/Sea-Land alliance and a competing four-carrier partnership of P&O Containers, NYK, Hapag-Lloyd and Neptune Orient Lines.

Both moves reflect the growth of South Asia as a manufacturing center, and the desire of the global alliances to offer a broad menu of services.

"The more diversity in ports you can offer, the better your package is," said John Crawley, vice president of marketing, Pacific, for Sea-Land.

Maersk/Sea-Land. Since announcing plans last summer for a global consortium operating 175 ships, Sea-Land and Maersk have been putting together …