Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover

[Frosty1]

Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover

A company at the Port of Miami has sued to block the takeover of shipping operations there by a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. It is the first American courtroom effort to capsize a $6.8 billion sale already embroiled in a national debate over security risks at six major U.S. ports affected by the deal.

The Miami company, a subsidiary of Eller & Company Inc., presently is a business partner with London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which Dubai Ports World purchased last week. In a lawsuit in Florida circuit court, the Miami subsidiary said that under the sale it will become an "involuntary partner" with Dubai's government and it may seek more than $10 million in damages.

The Miami subsidiary, Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc., said the sale to Dubai was prohibited under its partnership agreement with the British firm and "may endanger the national security of the United States." It asked a judge to block the takeover and said it does not believe the company, Florida or the U.S. government can ensure Dubai Ports World's compliance with American security rules.

A spokesman for Peninsular and Oriental indicated the company had not yet seen the lawsuit and declined to comment immediately.

The lawsuit represents the earliest skirmish over lucrative contracts among the six major American ports where Peninsular and Oriental runs major commercial operations: New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. The lawsuit was filed moments before the court closed Friday and disclosed late Saturday by people working on the case.

The sale, already approved by the Bush administration, has drawn escalating criticism by lawmakers in Washington who maintain the United Arab Emirates is not consistent in its support of U.S. terrorism-fighting efforts. At least one Senate oversight hearing is planned for later this month.
Yahoo News

:popcorn:

[PhilipShore]

1. CBS News/AP: Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover

CBS News/AP
Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover
Feb. 19, 2006

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/19/ap/business/mainD8FRT6F00.shtml

(AP) A company at the Port of Miami has sued to block the takeover of shipping operations there by a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. It is the first American courtroom effort to capsize a $6.8 billion sale already embroiled in a national debate over security risks at six major U.S. ports affected by the deal.

[Timefortruth]

2. Maybe we'd be better off if the terrorists lose money

by our destruction, what else would stop them? It's not as if our government will protect us.

[DS1]

3. Well damn, Bush is caught between Iraq and a Corp case

Ba-dum-TISSSSS!

Really, who's he going to pony up to this time? His oil buddies, or his brother in Florida?

You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?

[seafan]

4. Background info on Eller & Co.:

Here is some background information on Eller & Co., from an earlier thread on Sunday, Feb 12, 2006:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2454971#2455517
911 Bankers to Run SIX Major U.S. Ports—Dubai(UAE). IMPEACH NOW!!!

Eller-ITO Stevedoring Company: Some background info here.

Formerly the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, P & O Cruises is a long-standing British company with an enviable pedigree that dates back to the early 1800s. Over the years, the line has amassed a loyal following amongst both passengers and crew members and is a good source of employment for British officers and staff.

snip

P & O Cruises comes under the corporate umbrella of the P & O Group - also the parent company of P & O Ferries and the giant American-based cruise line, Princess Cruises.

http://www.navis.gr/c_lines2.htm



PLANNING CARGO GROWTH: The Port of Miami Terminal Operating Co., a container-operations company owned by shipping firms P&O Ports North America, Eller & Co. and Florida Stevedoring, plans to invest $12 million in container-moving equipment to handle increasing business at the port. "We need the equipment in order to continue to grow," said Jorge Rovirosa, general manager of the company. "We need to increase our density and handle the containers faster and more efficiently." The company, known as POMTOC, has not set a date to complete the investment, he said, but is receiving bids for the equipment.

http://miamitodaynews.com/news/050623/fyi.shtml



Eller & Co, Inc, PO Box 13133, Port Everglades, FL, 33316, USA, (tel) 305 525-3381, (fax) 305 524-2644. Transportation, Shipping, Deliveries>>Steamship Agents & Companies

http://www.yachtworld.com/byp/categories/TransportationShippingDeliveries/SteamshipAgentsCompanies_FL.html.en



ELLER CASE ON HOLD FOR NEGOTIATIONS

June 7, 2005

The various legal dust-ups involving Port Everglades stevedoring firm Eller & Co., its ex-CEO and the widow of its former owner have all been put on hold while the parties try to resolve the lawsuits outside of court.

Eller last year sued former boss Louie Wainwright Jr. and Anne Hvide, widow of its former owner, Hans Hvide, claiming they used $900,000 in company cash to pay for a romantic relationship. Wainwright has countersued for defamation, while Hvide has filed a counterclaim to get a peek at the private company's financials.

The sides agreed last week to put the five lawsuits and countersuits on hold for 60 days while they draft a settlement, said Michael Kreitzer, a Miami lawyer representing Eller. He declined to share any details of the settlement negotiations.

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:Zi5WmUBl_V0J:www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/11830665.htm+Eller+%26+Co.++Miami++Michael+Kreitzer&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1





And now, today, we read:

Washington- A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.

The Bush administration considers the UAE an important ally in the fight against terrorism since the suicide hijackings and is not objecting to Dubai Ports World's purchase of London- based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

snip

Critics of the proposed purchase said a port operator complicit in smuggling or terrorism could manipulate manifests and other records to frustrate Homeland Security's already limited scrutiny of shipping containers and slip contraband past U.S. Customs inspectors.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1139748981245370.xml&coll=2



So, we have passenger cruise lines and container/cargo offloading business interests that all will be affected by this UAE purchase of control of our ports... the implications are chilling.

I wonder if this would be a good subject for 60 Minutes..... maybe the American people might be interested in this story about how * is selling off their port security to folks who are associated with financing the 911 hijackers? Will this mean that American taxpayers' money might be used to finance terr... nah, that can't happen.... could it?

Edited to add:

From the WP, Sunday, February 12, 2006 Page A17

DP World said it won approval from a secretive U.S. government panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry. The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States "thoroughly reviewed the potential transaction and concluded they had no objection," the company said in a statement.

The committee, which could have recommended that President Bush block the purchase, includes representatives from the departments of Treasury, Defense, Justice, Commerce, State and Homeland Security.

The committee action followed concerns expressed by a Miami-based company, Eller & Co., according to Eller's lawyer, Michael Kreitzer. Eller is a business partner with the British shipping giant but was not in the running to buy the ports company.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/11/AR2006021101112.html


This initial lawsuit by Eller & Co is captivating. Don't know enough about Eller & Co's connections yet to even venture a guess how this will play.

Wonder if Eller & Co. was mightily ticked off about this secret sale by *Co... Or ticked off because it wanted to have the chance to act on the deal.... this will get interesting.

[Coastie for Truth]

5. Two Must Reads

1. "America the Vulnerable: How Our Government Is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism" by Commander Stephen Flynn, United States Coast Guard (Retired)

2. <>

"Chemical Data Guide for Bulk Shipment by Water" - first edition by Coastie, Lieutenant, United States Coast Guard (Honorably Discharged)



<>

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. Here's the current compilation I have on Dubai port sale threads - LINKS:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2454971
thread title (2-12-06 GD-P): 911 Bankers to Run SIX Major U.S. Ports—Dubai(UAE). IMPEACH NOW!!!
Comment/excerpt: “Six ports will be run and protected by a Dubai based port management company (DP World): New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. The deal was approved by a “U.S. government panel coordinated out of the White House. Just prior to the deal, David C. Sanborn of Virginia was appointed as administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Transportation Department. Sanborn worked as DP World's director of operations for Europe and Latin America.…. A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.“
Also gives info on Dubai’s links to suspected terrorist financing and money laundering.

Even the freepers are upset about this outrage:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x446111
thread title (2-16-06 GD): Freepers JUST AS MAD About the Port Control Issue... Common Ground?
Comment/excerpt: Free Republic posts expressing concern/outrage over Dubai operating 6 major US ports.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x446003
thread title (2-16-06 GD): OK!!! I think the Pres. just cut his own throat!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2113537
thread title (2-16-06 LBN): White House Defends Port Operations Sale
Comment/excerpt: Yahoo News/AP. “The Bush administration on Thursday rebuffed criticism about potential security risks of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over significant operations at six major American ports. Lawmakers asked the White House to reconsider the deal. The sale to state-owned Dubai Ports World was ‘rigorously reviewed’ by a U.S. committee that considers security threats when foreign companies seek to buy or invest in American industry, National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said….”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x453502
thread title (2-17-06 GD): Freeper and neocon websites unable to put a spin on the UAE port takeover
Comment/excerpt: COMPILATION post with many links and good explanation, for example of the role played by GOLD in the money trail to al Qaeda. Also that the United Arab Emirates were one of the THREE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD THAT RECOGNIZED THE TALIBAN AS THE LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN. Much more on the obvious security disaster this deal would be and why.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x452192
thread title (2-17-06 GD): Excellent! "Democrats plan bill to block Dubai-US port deal"
Comment/excerpt: Reuters: “Two U.S. Democratic senators said on Friday they would introduce legislation aimed at blocking Dubai Ports World from buying a company that operates several U.S. shipping ports because of security concerns. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York said they would offer a measure to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations.” Hillary is calculating that the GOPs and Dems will like this position and it will boost her presidential chances, but I wouldn’t care WHO was calling for sanity in this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2115471
thread title (2-17-06 LBN): US Democrats plan bill to block Dubai-US port deal
Comment/excerpt: Cites same Reuters article as the preceding thread in GD.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x460075
thread title (2-18-06 GD): Please tell me why every other thread is not about the sale of the ports?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x461270#462457
thread title (2-18-06 GD): In light of the sale of 6 US ports to the United Arab Emirates, PNAC VIDEO
Comment/excerpt: Links to two Dutch VIDEOS, one 20 min and one 48 min. They are in English about the PNAC, the Carlyle group, and the greedy corporate network ruling the world today.. Reply #8 has a summary. Excerpt: “No civilised country would tolerate the close relationship Carlyle and, by practical extension, United States' president George W. Bush, enjoy with the Saudi royal family and its cohorts in terror, repression and murder. The behaviour of those setting the agenda of our global future is unconscionable at best and downright evil when taken at face value. The documentary is thoroughly researched, well presented, and carries no trace of the conspiratorial. The facts speak for themselves. Sowing death, destruction and terror about the globe, George W. Bush and his power-crazed sidekicks, supporters and collaborators are everything they pretend others to be; namely, global terrorists bent on furthering selfish interests.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2118357
thread title (2-18-06 LBN): Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover
Comment/excerpt: AP at Yahoo News and CBS – link in Reply #1. Excerpt: …“The Miami company, a subsidiary of Eller & Company Inc., presently is a business partner with London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which Dubai Ports World purchased last week. In a lawsuit in Florida circuit court, the Miami subsidiary said that under the sale it will become an "involuntary partner" with Dubai's government and it may seek more than $10 million in damages. The Miami subsidiary, Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc., said the sale to Dubai was prohibited under its partnership agreement with the British firm and "may endanger the national security of the United States." It asked a judge to block the takeover and said it does not believe the company, Florida or the U.S. government can ensure Dubai Ports World's compliance with American security rules.” …
Reply #4 Cites and excerpts an important article on the Dubai sale in the Feb 12 Washington Post that describes the secretive process by which a government panel raised no objection to the sale:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/11/AR2006021101112.html

[NVMojo]

7. this story is such good news