US Port Security Threatened by Chinese-Made Cranes, Says House Report

Despite its long-standing reliance on Chinese marine cranes, the U.S. is placing a national security risk over the cranes’ ability to be operated remotely through built-in modems, according to a staff report released Friday by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. 

“Hidden” and “unauthorized” modems have been found in U.S. ports, and the committee described the discovery as troubling, as U.S. ports have not requested the modems or specifically identified in legal agreements.

Several cranes used at US ports may have been fitted with intelligence-gathering equipment installed by a Chinese company that could allow Beijing to spy on Americans and cripple critical infrastructure in the United States, according to a new report released by Congress. 

As a result of the Republican majority on both the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, as well as the House Homeland Security Committee, it was found that Shanghai-based ZPMC engineering company, a state-owned company, had pressured American port authorities to allow remote access to its cranes, “particularly on the West Coast” of the United States. 

Despite this, it is also possible that this access could be extended to other government entities within the People’s Republic of China, posing an additional risk because PRC national security laws mandate cooperation with state intelligence agencies, according to the report,

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