DP World Ports Deal Gets Murkier

DP World apparently has no intentions of divesting itself of the seaport in Miami.

The Dubai-owned company that promised to surrender its U.S. port operations has no immediate plans to sell its U.S. subsidiary's interests at Miami's seaport, a senior executive wrote Monday in a private e-mail to business associates.

They are taking the stand that under US law, divestiture in Miami is not necessary.

"As for the 'pending situation,' I myself am not aware of anything about it that would alter the ownership of POMTOC [Port of Miami Terminal Operating Co.], so unless one or both of our esteemed partners have separately advised you that they plan to sell their interests, you should assume for your own purposes of managing the company that ownership of POMTOC is not going to change," Scavone wrote.

"And even if they do plan to sell, that would probably take a while," he wrote. Scavone's e-mail responded to an earlier message proposing a formal review of the port company's budget, "once the pending situation is resolved and ownership of POMTOC is established."

Scavone is executive vice president for security at P&O Ports North America Inc. and would seem to be short on intelligence if he's writing e-mails like this at this time.

Meanwhile lawmakers are threatening action if DP World doesn't sell off its US holdings.

... leading congressional critics have threatened to intervene if DP World's plans fall short of a full divestiture of its U.S. operations.

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