DP World accused of operating monopoly in India

DP World accused of operating monopoly in India    Dubai Ports World is in trouble again, this time in India.
   Forced to pull up its stake in the United States after an uproar about a foreign government from the Middle East operating U.S. port facilities, the Dubai-owned company now finds its $6.8 billion purchase of Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. has upset some folks in India, the British paper The Independent reported.
   The acquisition, combined with DP World’s existing operations there, put DP World in charge of about 50 percent of the container volumes in India and some have called on the central and regional governments to block the transaction for antitrust reasons.
   DP World has container terminals in Kochi and Visakhapatnam. P&O has terminals in Mumbai, Chennai and Mundra.
   Last week, a transport workers union said the deal creates a monopoly for DP World in the container business, and asked the government to reverse the deal.
   The maritime board in Gujarat, which regulates the Mundra International Container Terminal, has given P&O Ports in India until the end of March to explain why the board has not been informed of the takeover, echoing complaints from some U.S. port authorities about lack of notification about the change in ownership.