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Background
Main article:
DP World
DP World is a company owned by the government of
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, via a holding company. This holding company is under the direct control of the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also Vice President and
Prime Minister of the UAE.
Chronology

U.S. Senator from New York,
Chuck Schumer, brought the case to national attention.
In mid-October 2005,
DP World approached the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to clear regulatory hurdles for a possible acquisition of the British firm P&O. The CFIUS is the multi-agency federal panel that passes judgment on deals with foreign corporations that raise antitrust or national security questions. Soon after, DPW began negotiating the terms of the takeover with P&O.
[4] They were advised by former President Bill Clinton to submit to a 45-day review of the acquisition.
[5]
In December 2005, Coast Guard intelligence officials raised the possibility of significant security risks associated with the management of some U.S. port operations by a Dubai company, stating in a report that broad intelligence gaps prevented them from assessing the risks.
[6]
In February 2006, the stockholders of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), a
British firm, agreed to a sale of that company to DPW over a bid by
PSA International of
Singapore. As part of the sale, DPW would assume the leases of P&O to manage major U.S. facilities at the
Port of New York and New Jersey,
Port of Philadelphia,
Port of Baltimore,
Port of New Orleans, and the
Port of Miami, as well as operations in 16 other ports.
After P&O stockholders approved the deal, the arrangement was reviewed by the CFIUS headed by the U.S. Treasury Department. The transfer of leases was approved.
When the deal appeared in the business press, it was noticed by Eller & Company, a Florida firm. Eller has two joint ventures with P&O and it feared becoming an "involuntary partner of DP World," said Michael Kreitzer, Eller's lawyer.
[7] According to Kreitzer, Eller hired semi-retired lobbyist Joe Muldoon as a last-ditch effort to persuade Congress to block the deal. Soon, Muldoon and Kreitzer got the attention of Democratic New York Senator
Charles E. Schumer and an
Associated Press reporter. Within days, Schumer held a press conference calling for a review and the AP ran the story nationally.
[7]
Congressional politicians were quick to respond after Schumer's press conference and the AP story put the Dubai Ports deal in the national spotlight. Both
Democratic and
Republican members of
Congress started to question the approval. Republican leaders
Dennis Hastert and
Bill Frist, who usually work closely with the office of the President, publicly questioned the deal. Frist said "If the administration cannot delay the process, I plan on introducing legislation to ensure that the deal is placed on hold until this decision gets a more thorough review."
[8]
On February 22, 2006, President Bush threatened to
veto any legislation passed by Congress to block the deal, a veto that would be his first. In a statement to reporters, Bush claimed, "It would send a terrible signal to friends and allies not to let this transaction go through."
[9] DP Worlds Chief Operating Officer,
Ted Bilkey engaged a number of high-profile lobbying firms to garner congressional support for the deal.
[7]
The controversy created a public and unusually high-profile dispute within the Republican Party, and between the Republican-controlled Congress and the Republican-controlled
White House.
On February 23, 2006, DPW volunteered to postpone its takeover of significant operations at the ports to give the White House more time to convince lawmakers that the deal poses no increased risks from terrorism.
According to the website of P&O Ports, the port-operations subsidiary of P&O, DPW would take over
stevedore services at 12 East Coast ports including the
Port of Portland (Maine);
Port of Boston;
Port of Davisville;
New York City;
Port Newark;
Port of Philadelphia;
Port of Camden;
Port of Wilmington;
Port of Baltimore; and
Virginia locations at
Newport News,
Norfolk, and
Portsmouth.
Additionally, DPW would have taken over P&O
stevedoring operations at nine ports along the
Gulf of Mexico including the
Texas ports of
Beaumont,
Port Arthur,
Galveston,
Houston,
Freeport, and
Corpus Christi, as well as the
Louisiana ports of
Lake Charles and
New Orleans.
Former Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican presidential candidate
Bob Dole was hired by Dubai Ports World to lobby Congress on its behalf against bipartisan criticism of the deal. Mr. Dole was a special counsel in the Washington office of the law firm of
Alston & Bird. DP World hired the firm in 2005 to help shepherd its purchase of the British-based firm
P&O.
[10]
On March 8, 2006, the House Panel voted 62–2 to block the deal, and Senator
Charles Schumer added amendments to a Senate bill to block the deal, causing an uproar in the Senate.
[11]
On March 9, 2006, Dubai Ports World released a statement saying they would turn over operation of U.S. ports to a
U.S. "Entity".
[12] Later that same day,
American Enterprise Institute scholar
Norm Ornstein reported on
PBS's "News Hour" that DP World was considering selling its U.S. operations to
Halliburton.
[13]
Dubai Ports World eventually sold P&O's American operations to
American International Group's asset management division, Global Investment Group for an undisclosed sum.
[2] The company is now known as Ports America.
[14] In New Jersey, it operates as Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT). Highstar Capital is shopping the company.
[15] In 2017, a Turkish company sought to buy Ports America, which would bring it full circle to 2006.
[16]