• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Officials: Port Firm Sale Won't Affect Security

Posted on: Friday, 24 February 2006, 18:00 CST

By TIMOTHY BOONE

Officials: Port firm sale won't affect security

The controversial sale of a British port company to a firm from the United Arab Emirates would touch the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, but officials said it would not affect security.

P&O Ports Louisiana has been a part of the Baton Rouge port since 1955, hiring stevedores to load and unload ships and transfer cargo into warehouses. The company has gone through several name changes as a result of mergers and acquisitions in the shipping industry.

Karen St. Cyr, a spokeswoman for the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, said the ownership of P&O will make little difference to port operations or security. Under the latest acquisition announced late last week, P&O Ports would be sold to Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the UAE government, for $6.8 billion. The deal has been backed by President Bush, but a bipartisan group of political leaders and commentators have criticized the purchase, which they said could threaten U.S. port security. P&O has terminals at six major ports: New Orleans, Baltimore, Miami, New York, Philadelphia and Newark, N.J.

The company has operations at 15 other ports, including Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and Gulfport, Miss.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, R- Kenner, have come out against the P&O sale, citing the UAEs history as serving as a staging ground for terrorists and what is seen as the countrys lax pursuit of terrorists. U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R- La., said he has strong concerns and questions about the deal, but did not say he opposed the sale. Gary LaGrange, director and chief executive of the Port of New Orleans, said this week he was not overly concerned about the sale affecting security at the port. Port operators and maritime companies across the United States have made similar comments, saying that terminal operators play a small role in port security.

St. Cyr said P&O has about 10 employees at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. All of the workers come from the metro area.

The main thing they do is hire longshoremen to load and unload ships, St. Cyr said. They get local people from the local ILA (International Longshoremens Association), she said.

Theyre just like several other companies at the port that hire stevedores, she said. They all fall under the security procedures we have in place.

Officials with P&O Ports Louisiana referred all calls to the corporate headquarters in New Jersey. The corporate headquarters referred press questions to a New York-based public relations firm, which had not responded to questions about operations at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

More News in this Category