Wall Street Journal report questions port cranes

A Pentagon report published by the Wall Street Journal says the military sees Chinese-made cranes operating in U.S. ports as a potential ‘Trojan Horse’ that China could use to gather intelligence on materials being moved in and out of the country.

This comes hard on the heels of a report that a Chinese balloon shot down off the Coast of South Carolina was being used to spy on the U.S.

The state port at Gulfport has three cranes made by ZMPC in China. The gantry cranes used to load and unload container ships were installed in 2016.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied China has any such program.

The Port of Gulfport issued a statement also dismissing any such issues with its cranes. The statement says “The Port of Gulfport has three ZPMC 100-ton gantry cranes that were delivered in 2016. These cranes were designed specifically for our operational needs and are managed and maintained by our own employees. While we do not comment on the specifics of our security measures, our cranes are regularly inspected and the port is subject to rigorous security measures set in place by the U.S. Coast Guard and other external parties. We do not have any reason to believe that there is any malware or spyware on our cranes.”