DP World’s controversial history of P&O ownership
When Dubai Ports Ltd first bought up the ports and ships of P&O 16 years ago, the question that preoccupied a country reeling from the 2005 Islamist terrorist attacks was Britain’s physical security.
Now, the questions are focused on the economic security of Britain’s workforce.
From DP World’s vantage point in the Gulf, the crew of the loss-making ferries of P&O may never have been a pressing concern. The heart of DP World’s global operation is the enormous Jebel Ali port, at the trading crossroads of continents, boasting the largest artificial harbour in the world, incorporating ever more and ever bigger container ships.
It is also one of the world’s biggest free trade zones. Such zones are a place where businesses can incorporate with the lightest of tax and regulatory frameworks.
DP World is ultimately owned by Dubai’s ruling royal family. The chairman and group chief executive is Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who has long been near the heart of government; he chairs a government department that includes the Dubai customs workforce, and leads the Jebel Ali free zone authority.
Bin Sulayem and DP World originally bought P&O – then a London listed company – in 2006 for £3.3bn. It paid a huge premium, about 70% over the market value, for a group that Margaret Thatcher had once described as “the fabric of the British empire”.
However, the ports were always its key target: Bin Sulayem admitted then that he had limited knowledge of the ferry business that came alongside, but denied he had plans to sell them off. They were however sold to a separate state-owned entity, Dubai World, around the time of the financial crisis, before DP World bought them back for $322m (£244m) in 2019.
Among its 70 ports worldwide, the closest to home, as
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