Powerful, Chinese-built ship-to-shore cranes at ports around the United States are equipped with mysterious communications devices that may be relaying information about American economy and trade to the Chinese government, Congressional officials found in an investigation, according to The Wall Street Journal (via the National Desk).
The devices appear to be cellular modems which are not uncommon for industrial cranes, but the ports had not specified them when ordering the equipment, and the devices are not transmitting data to port offices though they appear to be communicating with outside contacts. The cranes were built by the Chinese company ZPMC, which built around 80% of the heavy-lift cranes used at ports around the United States.