Australian government urged to match US crackdown on Chinese-made cranes at ports

The Australian government is being urged to follow America’s lead and crack down on the use of Chinese-made cranes, amid fears they could be used for spying and cyber attacks.

EXCLUSIVE

Australia’s biggest ports are using Chinese-made cranes that could be a Trojan horse for spying and cyber attacks, sparking calls for the government to match a major US crackdown.

American security chiefs have sounded the alarm about cranes built by ZPMC, a Chinese state-owned company that has supplied machinery to ports in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle.

Responding to what she said was a “real strategic risk”, US deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger last week unveiled tough new cyber security rules for port operators, as well as a massive $US20 billion ($A30 billion) effort to replace them with US-made cranes.

A ZPMC crane arrives at Sydney’s Port Botany. Picture: Supplied

Coast Guard cyber command chief Rear Admiral John Vann said the Chinese-built cranes – which accounted for 80 per cent of those used in the US – were “vulnerable to exploitation”.

“By design, these cranes may be controlled, serviced, and programmed from remote locations,” he said.

Australian ports have recently installed several ZPMC cranes, prompting opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson to warn: “We cannot afford to give foreign authoritarian states privileged access to the technology that enables our ports by using high-risk vendors.”

White House deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger. Picture: Nicholas Kamm/AFP

Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge, a former top defence official, agreed with US security chiefs that the cranes could be a Trojan horse for espionage as well as sabotage of port operations, potentially causing dire economic consequences.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the FBI found intelligence-gathering equipment on a cargo ship delivering ZPMC cranes to Baltimore. Rear Admiral Vann said authorities had since “hunted for threats” on 92 of more than 200 cranes in the US.

A ZPMC crane arrives in Fremantle. Picture: Supplied

Mr Shoebridge warned Australia’s use of Chinese-made cranes could also deter US forces from using our ports. He encouraged the Biden administration to pursue “direct, blunt engagement” with an Australian government he said was reluctant to “address security risks from Chinese equipment or systems” to avoid a new breakdown in relations with Beijing.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil’s office referred questions to a departmental spokeswoman, who did not say whether the government had analysed the use of Chinese-built cranes in Australia or if it shared the concerns of the Biden administration.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire

She said technology used by port operators was “ultimately a commercial decision”, but that security advice was issued to them a year ago and cyber security measures were encouraged, as the government considered how to manage “risks associated with vendors which could be compelled by foreign governments to act against Australia’s interests”.

Senator Paterson called on the government to “follow the Biden administration’s lead and use the powers available to them under the previous government’s critical infrastructure reforms to require port operators to mitigate these risks”.

Mr Shoebridge added that a policy which “incentivises replacement of Chinese-made cranes at our key ports makes sense”.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington DC, said the suggestion that Chinese-made cranes posed a national security risk was “entirely paranoia”.

Originally published as Australian government urged to match US crackdown on Chinese-made cranes at ports