Dubai Ports World gives up on management plan

March 9, 2006

The reports are just starting to emerge, but apparently, Dubai Ports World has decided to give up its management stake in some U.S. ports. Details soon.

Update (2:34 pm): An unnamed domestic entity will, according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), manage and operate the ports in question.

A United Arab Emirates-owned company has agreed to turn over all of its operations at U.S. ports to an American “entity,” Sen. John Warner said Thursday.

Reading a statement from DP World on the Senate floor, Warner, a Virginia Republican, said the reason is “to preserve” the strong relationship between the UAE and United States.

Second Update (2:40 pm): It’s worth noting that this may not necessarily end the controversy. Dubai Ports World has given up operation of the ports. Lawmakers who have proposals that would block ownership of the ports may move forward with their plans anway. Stay tuned.

Third Update (2:48 pm): The New York Times has a good report on the developments, including the fact that DPW will transfer management of the six ports “to an American-owned company.” Even more importantly, the NYT noted that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called today’s announcement a promising development, but added that if the Dubai-owned company ultimately retained control over the port operations, “I don’t think our goals would be accomplished and obviously we will need to study this agreement carefully.”

On a related note, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added, “We will have to wait and see what is really going to happen.” In other words, today’s announcement has not ended the controversy, at least not yet.

Fourth Update (5:02 pm): There’s also — surprise, surprise — some question as to whether the White House coordinated Dubai Ports World’s announcement today:

The White House says they only knew of “rumors” of a deal, but one wonders whether there was coordination between the White House, DPW and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., who announced the agreement. It’s clear the White House knew, especially after meeting with congressional leaders this morning, that Congress was prepared to buck him on this.

Daddy’s pals bail out Dubya one more time.

  • The only news story I’m seeing on this is saying that DPWorld plans to push on and has no intention of selling its U.S. operations.

    Anyone have a link to a reliable news source?

  • Didn’t see that one coming … I’m waiting for this to turn into another Harriet Meiers/Sam Alito moment. True to form, Bush will ink a deal with a state-run foreign company that’s even worse. Think a port company from Saudi Arabia. Then conservatives will chide Democrats for not defending Dubai Ports World and forcing Bush to make an even worse, more divisive choice.

    Seriously, W. and Cheney have to be furious about this. I wonder what the payback is going to be?

  • I find this interesting.

    The Web site of Britain’s Financial Times newspaper (www.ft.com) had reported that private equity groups had approached DP World about buying its U.S. operations.

    DP World’s Sharaf told the newspaper in an interview published on Thursday that his company would not consider selling its U.S. operations.

    One source in Washington said Dubai Ports had no plans to sell its newly-acquired U.S. operations.

    “DP World has received lots of approaches but is not considering any such options,” the source, close to the firm, said.

    Analysts said the political furor was bound to provoke businesses in the world’s biggest oil exporting region, which is an increasingly important source of financing for the huge U.S. current account deficit.

    “It’s American double standards. Do you think that businesses and governments here won’t react and even retaliate?” said Wadah Al Taha of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

  • Yeah, they’re just doing Bush and his people a favor.

    So what’s that now?

    -Harriet Miers
    -Social Security
    -Dubai state-owned-co. port deal (or at least a portion of it)
    -Bernie Kerik

    And what else has there been? I guess these losses are embarrassing for them, and encouraging for us. I’d like to see them lose on more things closer to the center of their agenda, though.

  • Anyone know who the “U.S. Entity” is???

    Call me cynical, but I’m guessing its Haliburton.

  • I’m convinced that the DP World deal was a red herring right from the start, designed to prop up the beleaguered Republicans in Congress ahead of the 2006 election season. It allowed them to stand up to an increasingly unpopular president and cement their message of being tough on national security. It turned the message from one of Republican ethical and criminal violations to one of national security, which was just what the doctor ordered.

    The Bush administration, soon to be lame duck, could afford to take the near-term hit in order to ensure that Republicans don’t lose majority status in the House and Senate. A Dem majority come January would spell BIG TROUBLE for Bush and company.

  • Too bad it’s all bullshit.

    Too bad we libs are just blowing smoke out of our asses and don’t really know what we’re talking about.

    Too bad we’re handing the world over to people who will gladly take away our rights to even write this shit.

    I wish I had a brain. I wish I weren’t destined to be a moronic lib.

  • Maybe I’ll have last post.
    Of course, all this bruhaha over the ports is all bullshit. DPW wasn’t ever going to bring a bunch of Arabs over to “run” the ports, The purchase of O&I Steam was a commercial transaction that the US can’t “stop” in any event – they’re not incorporated here. All we can do is ensure that DPW doesn’t get the full value for what they bought. Sort of like buying an appartment complex but being told after you’ve agreed on a price that, well, you can’t have one or two of the buildings even though you’re expected to pay full price. So the government of Dubai takes it in the shorts.
    Brilliant.

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