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March 9, 2006
Ah, New Orleans gets the shaft again. . .
Now I bet you'll think that I'm talking about the storm system that's bearing down on Lousisiana threatening tornados. Well, I'm not.
I'm talking about the "Dubai Ports Deal". Are you looking at your screen like a dog does when he hears a high pitched whistle???
How can the two be connected? I'll tell ya.
Dubai Ports World knows ports. I mean they REALLY know ports, of all the companies in the world, DPW is probably the most efficient and effective managers of seaports there is. They've built some of the most sophisticated and efficient cargo handling operations on the planet, from Dubai, to Hong Kong, wherever you found large concentrations of ships and cargo containers you found DPW. They found their niche and became the worlds best player at the game of shuffling cargo containers on and off ships.
DPW is the world leader in automated handling of cargo containers. Whereever they've gone they've installed automated cranes, robotic trucks and computerized container storage yards and dramatically increased the efficiency of the port facilities they operate.
Now it seems they're about to be cut out of a market that desperately needs their expertise, and more importantly, their money and investement.
One of the port facilities . . . . OK, I'm going to stop here for a second and point out a few things.
PORT SECURITY - Port Security WAS NOT, I repeat WAS NOT being turned over to DPW. The deal was this: DPW would lease some land within a designated "port area" and offload and onload ships into a yard where US Customs would inspect and oversee the "border" within the ports. Security would have remained a U.S. responsibility.
It should also be pointed out that in MOST of our ports, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Venezeula, Great Britain, France, Germany, China, Taiwan, South Korea and many more nations have entities like DPW that are CURRENTLY operating facilities within U.S. ports.
This ridiculous and false debate is NOTHING MORE THAN partisan politics, racism and ignorance combining to conspire against Dubai and Arabs in general. It's sickening in that sense alone, but wait. . . .there's more.
The port of New Orleans was devastated by Katrina, container yards, loading facilities and critical port infrastructure was largely destroyed by the storm, flooding and inattention after the storm as the companies that operated the facilities largely disappeared when their employees left town.
One of the most attractive portions of the DPW deal was the acquisition of leases for property in the Port of New Orleans. Making it more attractive was the need to completely rebuild the port facilities and making it even more attractive was that now there's actually an opportunity to expand port operations in New Orleans as the city is rebuilt in a more sensible and practical way. The Port of New Orleans was hemmed in, slums, housing projects and lower to middle class neighborhoods cramped any efforts to expand the port, sending business AND MONEY out of the city into St. Bernard parish, Baton Rouge and east and west along the intracoastal canal.
Katrina opened up whole new possibilities for New Orleans to become a MODERN PORT FACILITY. In fact, the possibility that the Port of New Orleans could be completely reworked was perhaps the one shining light in the entirety of the Katrina disaster.
Mardi Gras won't save New Orleans, tourism is only icing on the cake that is New Orleans. New Orleans is a port, it's always been a port as it will always be a port. New Orleans is the primary gateway for all those within the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Red River watersheds to get their products to the open sea via water, the most cost efficient way to ship products long distances. New Oreleans was also the primary gateway for products coming into those markets. Take a look at a map of the nation and look at those three watersheds and the smaller ones that feed into them, New Orelans in many ways is the beginning and the end of domestic shipping for a large portion of the nation.
Katrina has given us the opportunity to expand, upgrade and enhance the Port of New Orleans. It was (and may still be be) our opportunity to create a seaport that was the rival of the world, unconstrained by zoning and neighborhoods preventing an efficient layout of the port. This was the opportunity to FIX so so so many problems with the Port of N.O. It was the opportunity to develop an automated system to handle cargo by offloading, scanning, monitoring, inspecting, TAXING and loading shipments in the most effective way possible.
DPW realized this opportunity and like any good business who's business was ports would, they struck a deal to get in on this exceptional opportunity.
There aren't many players in the port game at this level. In the United States we have Haliburton, in Israel they have Zim, in Dubai, they have DPW, the Brits have P&O, et cetera, et cetera. All of these players work together wherever you find large concentrations of ships and containers. All of these players come together wherever a nation puts its ports of entry.
Now, at the time we need international cooperation on international shipping the most, we've told one of our allies, both in business and in the GWOT to essentially go away, that we dont' want them to do business with us anymore. The players in this game (and that's what it's become, a game) are effectively stiff-arming New Orleans once again, and I'll suggest that their motives are far from honest and sincere once they step in front of the cameras.
On one front you have the President and the Administration, who approved the deal because it MET ALL OF THE REQUIREMENTS THAT CONGRESS LAID OUT. That's right, the Administration, through it's bureaucracy that transcends President Bush or any individual, put the DPW deal through the mill and checked it off against all the requirements that Congress had set forth. The DPW deal is a good deal. It's a deal we've done time and time again within our ports, it's a deal we make with numerous nations, Arab, Caucasian, Black, Asian, it's a deal that before now was blind to race, but GUESS WHAT? The Democrats (through Reid and Schumer) led the racist charge to bring this deal down and they convinced a number of Republicans to come along for this hate-fest through misinformation, fear and spin.
No one talked about New Orleans and the need to rebuild the port operations there from scratch, but BOY O BOY were they ready to LIE about "turning over security". No one talked about automated efficient cargo handling like they have in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Dubai or some of the major ports of Europe, but BOY O BOY were they ready to destroy the reputation and goodwill of one of our allies in the GWOT. No one talked about the reality of the deal, they only gave out the false soundbites, the false claims that security was at risk, and misleading assertions that the "port" would be taken over.
When I talk to people about the ports deal, they believe that it means the entire port would be taken over in various U.S. cities. Why do they think this? Because the media tells them so, even though the media knows it's untrue. It's easier and more effective to their purposes to scare and mislead than it is to tell the truth and explain what it means. People are also under the impression that there is a security threat, when exactly the opposite is true.
How can the opposite be true??? Well lets see there for a second. With more efficiency comes more time, with more time you can do more. Makes sense doesn't it???
So here's the kicker. DPW wanted to install automated loading, offloading and handling systems in their port facilities much like what they have installed in other places. By automating many of these processes you gain time, and time is what port security needs most. The reason that only 5% of containers coming into this country are inspected is because the offloading of ships is so inefficient. Every available shortcut is taken by companies to get cargo off ships and onto trucks because port facilities are generally too small and cramped. Containers now in many places come straight off a ship and are dropped onto a truck which passes through an inspection station and then moves out into the city. A majority of cargo coming into the country comes in just this way. It's rarely inspected in our ports other than a quick glance at the manifest, maybe someone walks around the truck with a radiation detector and maybe a dog sniffs the back end of the truck, but that's it, mostly cargo just sails on through.
DPW offered a partial solution in their automated cargo handling systems. By using automated cranes to transfer containers to automated shuttles you gained time. The actual unloading of the ships is dramatically increased and the congestion and chaos of the yard is replaced with the quiet hum of electric motors as automated shuttles ferry containers through a radiation detector, place suspect containers aside for customs inspection and move the bulky cargo away from the docks into holding yards where there is time (and in the case of New Orleans, ROOM) to actually undertake systematic inspections of containers on a grand scale. When you're paying people by the hour to sit in the cab of a truck and wait for inspectors to look at the cargo, money gets wasted and people get sloppy. No one cares about a robotic shuttle sitting still or going in circles back and forth to inspection stations, the computers won't complain about wasted time and not enough mileage. Robots don't argue with customs agents that they need to get on the road so they can get home early for their kids recital.
DPW wanted into the U.S. market in a greater capacity then they already had been. Yes, Dubai already has operations in the U.S., they bring in oil and natural gas to numerous terminals, and have shipping and receiving terminals in many ports across the U.S. The facilities that P&O operated were much sought after leases within the 6 ports in question, but the jewel of the deal, make no bones about it was the Port of New Orleans and the opportunity to create a world class port facility in New Orleans and turn the tragedy of Katrina into a godsend for a city that so desperately needed it.
But yes, fear, racism and partisan politics once again conspire to keep New Orleans down. Just like the idiocy of the reports of mass murders and rapes and lies about the events dominated coverage of Katrina, and continue to do so today, lies and misinformation dash hopes for a truely world class port facility to be developed in New Orleans.
I probably won't revisit this topic again, I'm pretty sick of spineless Republicans and fear-mongering Democrats and their treatment of this issue. I'll close by saying that when all is said and done, I'll tell you who's going to be controlling these port facilities now that the deal is killed. I'm sure we'll hear cries of foul and evil Bushhitler dirty tricks when it's said and done.
I'll tell you though, this new entity, when you look at who they really are, will be shown simply to be the company I mentioned in this post three weeks ago.
New Orleans gets screwed again. Of course people will say that it's all Bush's fault again. To be honest, it seems like the entire federal government on both sides of the aisle and in every agency is against New Orleans, add to that the mayor and governor too. It seems like the only one who is actually on the side of New Orleans, is the President. Go figure.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at March 9, 2006 2:03 PM
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Tracked on March 9, 2006 5:49 PM
