Speaking of the port deal


Just what were we worried about?
Robert M. Green points out that the Dubai deal could have resulted in improved security.

A third argument has not yet been made by the major factions, and may never be. That argument says that the UAE company's role here might result in better security implementation for the cargo container terminals than would otherwise have been possible.

Two factors explain potentially improved security under DP World management. The first is merely deductive. Given the intense furor already stirred to life in the media, the pressure to assure security could rise to a make-or-break agenda item for the ambitious company which already operates more than 40 terminals around the world.

Even before the media firestorm, a member of the U.S. committee that originally approved the DP World deal said that because the company is Persian Gulf-based it has "a strong incentive to make sure [terrorist threats to U.S. ports] never materialize." If anything, that incentive doubled when critics made a billboard issue of the deal.

More studied reasons for supposing port security in the U.S. could improve under DP World begin with the company's demonstrated ability to significantly grow its business managing shipping hubs while operating within environs associated with terrorism. In the same period that terrorist Web sites have increasingly advised jihadists on different ways of attacking or infiltrating ports and commercial maritime activities, the port of Dubai in UAE has soared from a mid-level operation to one of the busiest ports in the world.

Of course there is no way to know now what would have happened, but given the history of Congress interfering with the free market, I'm willing to bet that the ports are going to end up being less secure than they were.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - March 10, 2006 at 04:32 AM  Tag


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