NEW YORK: The Dubai Ports World controversy of 2006 is making a comeback, only this time the Arab principal has actually gained control of the container contract for a major U.S. port.
The site is Port Canaveral, near the Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s east coast, which is frequented by U.S. and NATO-ally nuclear submarines.
A 35-year contract signed last year and set to go operational next month allows a United Arab Emirates-based company managed by Badr Jafar to operate a cargo terminal managing containers.
The UAE has been a major donor to the troubled Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. And Jafar has ties to supermodels linked with President Bill Clinton and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s famed Lolita Island.
The company, Gulftainer, is a global terminal port operator with headquarters in Sharjah, UAE, adjoining Dubai.
“Project Pelican,” featuring Gulftainer’s new unit, GU USA, aims to create 2,000 jobs when fully operational, including 500 at the port itself in a planned $100 million investment in infrastructure, equipment and staff.
