Posted on 02/20/2006 7:28:25 AM PST by standingfirm
Peninsula and Orient is the top-rated company in their field (and that was what I was referring to in my post--P&O is to port operations what Halliburton is to oilfields). DP World is an also-ran with a big wallet. DP World's only hope for making any money off of this purchase is to leave P&O alone as an independent profit center--if they try to get their hands dirty and run things, they're going to go broke.
....it usually gives to foreign purchases of U.S. businesses.
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You realize that this is not a true statement. The purchase is by a non-U.S. business from a non-U.S. business.
As Rush is saying now there are some really good reasons for this deal to go through, but it will not happen because a tsunami of political posturing has started and cannot be stopped.
If the world were perfect, a US company would operate all the ports and win all the contracts, and if I were a genie, I would make it so.
I continue to try to research why this is not true today. Do you know why the P&O has been operating these container ports? Perhaps it is because they funded the construction of them. Perhaps they own the cranes. Perhaps, American companies could not deal with the ILO as well as a British company could.
I just speculate in the absence of info.
"Do you know why the P&O has been operating these container ports?"
Because they are to container port operations what Halliburton is to oilfield services--the best there is, and everyone else just does not have the technical ability to perform at that level.
"No, there's Peninsula & Orient, just as there's Halliburton for oilfield operations, and a bunch of second-rate slackers that don't have the technical ability to perform."
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My goodness. You're just a fountain of misinformation aren't you. Operating in the US alone:
Charleston Heavy Lift, LLC
East Coast Terminal
EMESCO Marine Services, Corp.
Federal Marine Terminals
Gateway Terminal Services
Gulf Elevator and Transfer
Hyde Shipping Corp.
ITO Baltimore
INBESCA America, Inc.
Industrial Terminals, L.P.
J.P.S. Express, Inc.
Kinder Morgan/Pinney Dock & Transport LLC
L&L Fleeting, Inc.
Levin Richmond Terminal Corp.
Maher Terminals, Inc.
Manchester Terminal
Maritime Terminal of Pennsylvania, Inc.
Mid-Atlantic Terminal, LLC
Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co.
North Atlantic Distribution, Inc.
Pacific Delaware, Inc.
Penn Terminals, Inc.
Pacorini USA, Inc.
Rota Terminal & Transfer
Ruckert Terminals Corp.
Saipan Stevedore
Samson Tug And Barge Co., Inc.
Sun Terminal Inc.
SSA Marine
AP Moeller-Maersk
Asian Terminals, Inc.
JNPT
Lyttleton Port
BMTA
Texas Terminals LTD.
Transocean Terminal Operators, Inc.
etc., etc. -- Not to mention dedicated terminal operations by Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, BP, Saudi Aramco, Shell, etc.
Every one of those companies is a second-rate outfit that does not have the technical ability to perform at the level P&O does.
Oh hogwash. You are the most singularly fact-free poster on this forum.
"Oh hogwash. You are the most singularly fact-free poster on this forum."
How much import and export have you done? I've probably done a good deal more.
Well of course it is. But it also involves significant domestically-based infrastructure, so it is subject to the same review process. You knew that, right?
Do you know why the P&O has been operating these container ports? Perhaps it is because they funded the construction of them.
P&O's principal acquisition binge of US terminal infrastructure was in the late 1990's.
A little background might help:
P&O Ports is the P&O Group company responsible for port development, investment, operating and stevedoring activities. It operates approximately 31 container, general cargo, and passenger terminals in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, and Vancouver, and owns half of Norfolk's CP&O Ports Virginia, the largest stevedoring service in Hampton Roads.
A little history of a part of P&O's US operations gives you a flavor of what is being transfered to DP World:
International Terminal Operating Company, Inc. (ITO) was founded in 1921 by Captain Franz Jarka. Originally called The Jarka Corporation, the company specialized in handling freight and passengers in the Port of New York. Soon, The Jarka Corporation expanded its services to encompass the ports of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Hampton Roads, Virginia. In 1962, ITO was acquired by Ogden Corporation. In 1983, the company merged with John W. McGrath Corporation, which included Atlantic and Gulf Stevedores, Inc. and integrated their North Atlantic and Gulf Coast operations. Ogden and McGrath continued to share ownership of ITO.ITO opened its first public container handling facility in 1967, and it was among the first to utilize computers in its terminal operations. The company used the latest technology to coordinate all its port activities, including receiving and delivery functions, cargo documentation, and terminal security. ITO worked with many of the largest container, break-bulk, and specialized cargo carriers in the world and became one of the largest stevedores and marine terminal operators in the United States.
In 1999 the United Kingdom-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O) acquired ITO. The company then became part of P&O Ports, one of P&O's many subsidiaries. P&O Port's operations spanned 17 countries around the globe. In all, P&O Ports ran 24 container terminals in 84 ports.
And now, of course, for the sum of $6.8 billion, DP World is the proud owner of the former P&O Ports, complete with its former ITO operations and acquired operations in New Jersey, Miami, New Orleans, and Vancouver.
And as noted in Forbes (during the bidding war for acquisition of P&O):
DP World made the first formal approach for P&O in November, when it offered 3.3 billion pounds ($5.9 billion) for the 165-year-old company.A deal would make the combined company the third-largest ports operator in terms of capacity, lifting DP World up from its current rank as No. 7.
Once again, the concerns are: (1) Dubai state ownership of DP World; (2) that Dubai has a rather ignoble and disturbingly direct history of ties to terrorist funding and transit; (3) that DP World's ownership rights over existing North American terminal infrastructure and operations comes complete with extant leasehold, stevedoring, wharfage, and seaway rights; and (4) that the CFIUS did not conduct a 45-day investigation on top of the initial 30-day review that it usually gives to foreign purchases of U.S. businesses.
Rush's comments notwithstanding, this transaction stinks for purposes of US homeland security, and it stinks even more that it was given so little scrutiny.
Right. And you're an experienced astronaut too. And a brain surgeon.
"Right. And you're an experienced astronaut too. And a brain surgeon."
No, just a semi-retired business owner.
You, on the other hand, sound like many of the dolts I've fired over the years.
And before you mouth off about these being second-class ports, perhaps you should take a look at the tonnage/total cargo rankings for these ports (hint, South Louisiana and Houston are the largest by a wide margin).
Your ridiculous assertion that P&O is some kind of leader in "technical ability" and that all other terminal operators are "a bunch of second-rate slackers" is so absurd its embarrassing. Heck, P&O doesn't even have any US facilities that can handle hydrocarbons or petro-chemicals.
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