What does "P&O Ports North America" do in the U.S.?

Over the weekend I asked "What is Dubai Ports World buying?"  The answer was the management of container terminals (some but not all terminals) in six U.S. ports.

This morning I received a comment on that post from James Hamilton (Econbrowser), pointing to a UPI story from last Friday indicating that P&O was active in a larger number of ports - perhaps 21.  The UPI story is here: UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 ports .

Here is a key paragraph:

P&O is the parent company of P&O Ports North America, which leases terminals for the import and export and loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site. (Pamela Hess, UPI, Feb 24)

Here is the P&O Ports web site: P&O Ports .  Here is a map from the site showing the North American  ports where they have operations, and provide other services: P&O Ports North America.   A click on each port shows the details of P&O operations there.

Here is a story from Hampton Roads, describing P&O stevedoring activity there: Foreign companies abound at Hampton Roads ports (Gregory Richards, Virginia-Pilot, Feb 23).

Should the deal proceed, the reach of Dubai Ports World would be much smaller in Hampton Roads than in six other U.S. cities, including Baltimore, Miami and New York, where the company would operate cargo terminals. In this port, it would become a half-owner of a large stevedoring firm, CP&O LLC, which loads and unloads ships.

By the way, this is a nicely done story.  It's theme (which it illustrates in detail):

"The whole maritime industry is a collection of international transactions from the point of origin to the point of destination," said J.J. "Jeff" Keever, deputy executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, which owns Hampton Roads' three marine terminals.

James Hamilton and Movie Guy have been exploring the implications of the information on the P&O web site: Homeland Security's curious "fact sheet" .  Movie Guy has ascertained that the Dubai Ports World acquisition involves the transfer of operations at many more ports than indicated on Homeland Security and Customs web sites.  Hamilton explores implications of Movie Guy's conclusions.

Paul McLeary reports on this issue for CRJ Online: How a Wrong Number Became a Fact. O'Leary tries to figure out how the number "six" became so important (instead of "5" - New York and New Jersey are actually one port - and instead of "21").   I'd also like to draw your attention to the blog California Conservative .  By February 14, they were studying the P&O website and were aware of the stevedoring issue : U.S. Port Security: Should The Fox Guard The Hen House? .

Unfinished post - I'll come back to it - key issues: (1) what is it that Dubai Ports World is buying (including, but not limited to terminal management in six ports - is P&O) "leasing" terminals in 21 ports?), (2) security issues related to stevedoring and other services (as opposed to terminal management), and (3) why haven't the stevedoring services received more attention in this debate (possibly, but not necessarily, because they don't raise important issues) ?  .....

Revised already 2-28, to take account of new information from a new P&O web based map; also paragraphs beginning "Paul Mcleary" and "James Hamilton".

Comments

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