Who Controls U.S. Ports?

The uproar goes on about Dubai Ports World's $6.8 billion contract to operate U.S. ports. Personally, the duplicity of this is driving me nuts. Even though, the ports are currently controlled by the British owned Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O), DP bought them out... in November 2005

"The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. said Tuesday it has agreed to be acquired by government-owned Dubai Ports World for 3.3 billion pounds ($5.7 billion) in cash, ending more than 165 years of independence for the British shipping and port operator."

So the real truth is that DP did not buy into the contract, the acquired it as part of the operating assets of British P&O.

But the Congressional outcry about "foreign" operations of U.S. ports - even military - rings very hollow. This control is nothing new, and numerous ports are in the hands of international corporations and foreign nations - including China.

What has happened is that an ugly truth has come to light. Part of globalization under GATT has been the privatization of ports in the United States and in the rest of the world. India and Colombia are also hard hit. Try a search on control of port operations and they come up most frequently. The media, and Congress, are very carefully keeping the ugly truth out of the limelight. The outrage over "foreign" control extends only as far as the UAE - not to British P&O who ran the ports in question. Certainly not to the Chinese control of west coast ports.

Are there security issues? You bet. But even beyond security is sovereignty. The selling off the ports is a big money maker, but those ports were OURS. Now, they are in the hands of transnational corporations. Those corporations, regardless of their purported point of origin, know no allegiance. They certainly don't want to bear the burden of US "security," and largely they aren't. The efforts have been to subsidize improved security at corporate controlled ports through grants handled through Homeland Security via the Coast Guard. Mostly, there have not been many takers. The corporations feel that national security is government business and not theirs.

The corporatization of the ports has numerous ramifications. The current flap is just one. It is no surprise that Bush, and his cabinet and appointees, would be caught off guard by the uproar. They are corporate rooted and see the issue from the perspective of corporations, and not from the perspective of control of borders, sovereignty, or security. It is just a non-issue. Likewise, they have no intention of blocking DP's takeover (or any other transnational operation). It's just business after all.

Of course, like so many of the decisions made and policies set in the last five years, the corporate connected administration is linked to the company involved - and sure to gain either now or later. That connection is through Treasury Secretary John Snow, and the other is "David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and who was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration." Certainly it cannot hurt the oil oriented Bush and Cheney to strengthen bonds to the oil rich UAE.

So while the liars in Washington do Broadway performances of outrage over a Middle Eastern country in control of major U.S. ports, we should probably ask them who else is controlling our ports - and why. Then they can also be asked why they signed away our sovereignty with the signing of GATT (and NAFTA). They can also be asked why knowing the situation, it took them four and a half years after the "attack" to realize this might create some holes in the nation's security.

So why is this such a big and public stink? My best guess is "public perception." The news got out that the UAE via government owned DP was going to be controlling major ports in the U.S. The fuel for the "war on terrorism" and the rewriting of Constitutional rights and protections has been a racist and ethnocentric campaign. That campaign has made "Arab" and "Muslim" the literal face of the enemy. It has made every Arab/Muslim state a potential threat. The news of the port controls could do nothing else but strike the chord of fear and outrage in a propagandized U.S. public.

George Bush may be able to disregard law and the Constitution, but Congress does seek reelection and must face home town crowds at some point. The hypocrisy of supporting racial and religious profiling, and the aggressive actions against "States supporting terrorism" on the one hand, and allowing the UAE to control ports in the U.S. is glaring.However, they really don't want to talk about the corporate control of the U.S. ports because even a fool realizes that "border control" and "security" are compromised if major entry points are in "private" control. That is doubly true when that "private control" is in the hands of other nations. In fact, people might start asking what else has been lost in globalization? They might even remember that all but one Congressperson voted for GATT.

So keep the focus on the "must respond" issue of DP and the UAE and delimit that as the scope of the issue. Maybe then, the rest of the dirty truth will get lost in the noise.

2/26/02 Waller, Insight on the News, China eyes U.S. ports: concerns are being raised about the involvement in a Pentagon-funded port-security program of a company linked to the Chinese Communist Party leadership - Nation: homeland security

2/16/06 Jones, CNSNews, US Lawmakers Question Foreign Management of US Ports

2/18/06 Bridis, Houston Chron, Fear Escalates on Foreign Control of Ports

2/22/06 Wa. Post, Dubai Ports World Corporate Information

9/17/04 White, Educate Yourself, Red Chinese Army Controls America's Largest West Coast Container Port, Long Beach, California

8/05/02, GAO, PORT SECURITY: Nation Faces Formidable Challenges in Making New Initiatives Successful pdf

2/22/06 Hall, Reuters, Blocking ports deal may cool US-foreign bids

2/23/1998 UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT, Guidelines for Port Authorities and Governments on the
privatization of port facilities pdf

2/20/06 Teather, Guardian, US move to block takeover of P&O on security grounds

2/11/06 Timmons, IHT, Dubai set to win port operator, and status as giant

11/29/05 Wardell, AP, P&O OKs Takeover Bid From Dubai Ports World

Posted by rowan at February 23, 2006 5:20 AM | [eMail this article!] |