Survey Reveals Fallout from US anti-Dubai Reaction

A new poll by logistics and freight forwarding company network Aeroceanetwork Arab states according to a recent suggest their could be long-term repercussions following the reaction in the US to the takeover of P&O by Dubai-based DP World. This week Aeroceanetwork polled shipping and logistics professionals in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen and over 50% of the respondents to the poll believed that the US commercial image will suffer mid- to long-term damage in the region and nearly 63% of the respondents were holding unfavourable to very unfavourable opinions of the US Congress’s involvement. 

“It is a clear and a general belief to the people here that the US congress meddled in the Dubai Port Deal because the purchaser was an Arab company from an Islamic country” said a Kuwait based logistics professional, who requested anonymity, about the Aeroceanetwork poll results, “This would not have happened if P&O went to the Singaporean company that was bidding against Dubai Port for P&O. The US Congress is ignorant to the point that they cannot distinguish between terrorist entities and respectable business companies. They choose the easy way out of taking a stand against Arabs because they believe they are terrorists.” 

A Dubai based shipping industry expert believed that the United States business community in the region should “perhaps lobby their local American Chamber of Commerce pointing out how much their ability to find new orders could be impaired, also point out to them the absurdity of the whole issue and in what a bad light the US lawmakers are being perceived.” 

“The folks in the Gulf area with whom I have discussed the results do not see it affecting the short-term business very much,” said Gary Dale Cearley, the executive director of Aeroceanetwork, “But they do say that in the long run Arab based shipping and logistics companies will most surely think twice before making any investments in the US. This applies to all other industries too.”.

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