One Word: Logistics

Politicians and editorialists are up in arms about possible threats to national security should an Arab firm’s bid to operate several American seaports be approved. President Bush has threatened to veto any legislation opposing the bid. Last month, Daniel Gross concluded that logistics operations such Dubai Ports World are the way of the future: “The prospect of spending your life helping to move cargo, commodities, people, packages, finished goods, raw materials, liquids and solids, grains and fruit, pig iron, and coal from one part of the globe to another may not appeal to many hotshot undergraduates. And yet, as plastics did a generation ago, logistics helps define our age and is a hugely important economic force. In fact, it’s the unheralded key to the New Economy.”