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Against Arab co’s running port facilities?

… And President Bush’s stand in favor of allowing it?

Well it seemed to be OK with everybody here in Canada ever since it happened here.  In fact the very same Arab company that is causing such an anti-Bush sentiment among the usual suspects (and some unusal ones) down south —owns a big chunk of the Port of Vancouver activity. 

Arab company has lease at Port of Vancouver

An Arab company at the centre of a political firestorm in the United States over control of key port facilities also leases a container terminal at the Port of Vancouver.

But unlike in the U.S., Canadian authorities are not raising alarms about security concerns involving the operations of P&O Ports Canada, a subsidiary of P&O Ports, which was recently taken over by Dubai Ports World.

[…] Vanessa Vermette, a spokeswoman for Transport Canada, said the political controversy brewing in the United States hasn’t created any waves in this country.

“The facility in question is compliant with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, and it needs to maintain the same standards regardless of who’s operating it,” Vermette said of the Vancouver port, where P&O Ports Canada operates.

P&O Ports Canada CEO Darcy Clarkson said his company leases the Centerm container terminal on Burrard Inlet from the Vancouver Port Authority and owns Canadian Stevedoring, which provides ship loading and unloading services at all of Vancouver and Prince Rupert’s port facilities.

Clarkson said the U.S. Senate furor “would be laughable if it hadn’t turned into such a storm.”

He added that P&O Ports Canada submitted a request to approve the transfer of its lease to Dubai Ports World, which was granted. Clarkson said Dubai Ports World made it clear when it made its $6.7-billion offer for P&O that it wanted to buy the firm for its talent, and planned to leave all operations intact.

P&O secures access to its own terminal, Clarkson added, but “the port understands where the responsibility for [port] security lies. The responsibility for security lies with the port, with the Canadian Coast Guard, and Customs.” […]

[…]“P&O has just been bought by a company from the [United Arab] Emirates, but it doesn’t mean that the containers are all going to come from the Emirates and that Arab people or Muslim radicals will have control of that situation,” said Juneau-Katsuya, a retired senior intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Joel Johannesen
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