The U.S. maritime industry is “dangerously” reliant on China potentially opening the door for the Chinese Communist Party to gain access to critical American infrastructure, according to a new report from House Republicans.
In a report released Thursday, House Republicans on the Committee on Homeland Security and Select Committee on the CCP said that the use of Chinese manufactured equipment and technology at American ports jeopardized national security. The report specifically focused on Chinese-government owned ZPMC, a major manufacturer of cranes used at ports across the country.
“The evidence gathered during our joint investigation indicates that ZPMC could, if desired, serve as a Trojan horse capable of helping the CCP and the PRC military exploit and manipulate U.S. maritime equipment and technology at their request,” the committee said in a statement. “This vulnerability in our critical infrastructure has the potential to affect Americans from coast to coast.”
The report accuses ZPMC of leveraging cheap labor and subsidized steel to sell cranes around the world at non-competitive prices, flooding the world market. The lawmakers found that around 80% of ship to shore cranes used at ports in the U.S. come from ZPMC.
According to the lawmakers, ZPMC is owned by the China Communications Construction Group, which has had “significant involvement in militarizing the South China Sea.”
The lawmakers said that this reliance was a cybersecurity risk because ZPMC or one of its contractors had installed cellular modems on cranes at ports in the U.S.
“ZPMC has repeatedly requested remote access to its STS cranes operating at various U.S. ports, with a particular focus on those located on the West Coast,” the report said. “If granted, this access could potentially be extended to other PRC government entities, posing a significant risk due to the PRC’s national security laws that mandate cooperation with state intelligence agencies.”
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Few alternatives exist because there are no U.S.-based companies that make similar cranes, the report found.
Other vulnerabilities in the American maritime industry include the fact that portions of the ports of Long Beach, Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, and Miami are controlled by the China Merchants Group and COSCO Shipping, two state-owned companies.
The lawmakers included several recommendations in their 50-page report on what actions the U.S. should take to bolster its maritime security. These included having the Coast Guard issue guidance telling ports to disassemble any connection between ZPMC cranes to cellular modems.
They also recommended that the Commerce Department analyze U.S. capacity to increase manufacturing of crane technology and increasing security at U.S. ports.
