N.Y.-N.J. port authority, state of New Jersey sue to stop P&O sale

N.Y.-N.J. port authority, state of New Jersey sue to stop P&O sale    The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has asked a New Jersey Superior Court judge to affirm its right to end a lease held by Dubai Ports World for half of the Port Newark Container Terminal.
   Dubai Ports recently bought Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation, a port operator based in London, which owns P&O Ports North America, a subsidiary that operates part of the Port Newark Terminal. The port authority said the sale violated terms of a lease extending until 2030 because the deal went through without permission from the port authority.
   “This is a landlord-tenant dispute. We’re terminating their lease because they sublet illegally,” said Anthony R. Coscia, port authority chairman.
   The port authority acted just before Dubai Ports World requested a 45-day U.S. government review of its overall purchase deal.
   The port authority’s lease for the Port Newark Container Terminal states that a tenant must receive port authority approval of a transfer of ownership interest.
   “We never were asked, so we haven’t provided it,” Coscia explained.
   Other port authority officials said they had been frustrated at their inability to obtain information from the U.S. Treasury Department about a report on Dubai Ports World prepared by the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
   In a separate legal action, the State of New Jersey has sued the federal government in a Trenton district court in an attempt to block the Dubai Ports World purchase. The state argued that the Bush administration had not investigated fully the national security implications of the transaction.
   The state alleged further that by withholding information requested by Gov. Jon S. Corzine, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has interfered with New Jersey’s sovereign rights, as provided by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
   For its part, DP World has pledged that its North American port operations will be “a completely separate business unit,” that it will not exercise control over U.S. operations, and the chief security officer for North American ports will be a U.S. citizen.