United Arab Emirates – What about Venezuela and Their Florida Terminal Operations?

According to Adam Davidson of NPR , there are:

• 15 major ports in the U. S.;
• Roughly 100 terminals amongst these ports;
• SSA Marine, an American company, is the biggest terminal operator with 7 terminals;
• Maher Terminals, also an American company, is the next biggest with one terminal in Port Elizabeth, N.J.;
• The two American companies represent about 10 percent of the terminal operations business;
• About a dozen terminals are managed by city or state governments;
• That leaves about 80 that are operated primarily by foreign shipping lines; and
• These foreign companies are from all over the world – China, Denmark, Singapore, South Korea, Venezuela, and soon the UAE.

Wait a minute. Why all this fuss about the UAE, a capitalist, pro-United States federation? Isn’t Venezuela the one South American country that is blatantly anti-U.S.? Why isn’t there an uproar about this foreign company and their operation of terminals in Florida? According to Grupo Intershipping’s history, “As per the request of one of our represented lines in Venezuela, on February, 2001, we founded and formed our first international branch firm: INTERNATIONAL PORT SERVICES, Inc. (INTERPORT) a shipping agency acting in the south Florida ports of Miami and Port Everglades in the United States of America.”

As I stated in my previous article, this is more about political grandstanding than national security. In the NPR story referenced below, Adam Davidson concludes the article by confronting some of our Congressman that have been expressing their angst over the DP World business deal. He asked them for the names of their port security experts with whom they have consulted and who agree that this is a national security issue. Only one could provide names. Adam checked with those experts and neither felt that the UAE deal was a national security issue.

What’s really needed is for the Department of Homeland Security to boost the resources of the Coast Guard and U. S. Customs at our 15 major ports.