US would’ve been safer with DPW

The US missed an opportunity to make its ports safer when it drove away a Dubai-based company poised to operate several cargo terminals, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Chertoff said the international shipping firm DP World could have helped implement stronger security at many ports where the US now has limited influence.

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DP World, the world’s third-largest ports company, got a role in loading and unloading cargo from ships in at least 20 US ports when it purchased the UK company Peninsular & Oriental. The Bush administration defended the deal, but under pressure from Congress, the DP World said this month that it will sell its US operations to a US buyer.

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