For Mohammed Sharaf, the chief executive of DP World who began his career at a container terminal in New Jersey, the loss of US ports acquired as part of its take­over of P&O is a personal blow.

As recently as Wednesday, in an interview with the Financial Times in Dubai, Mr Sharaf was insisting that DP World was not even thinking about selling the assets. He was trying to explain to the US public and politicians why its ownership of the ports posed no security threat.