It is always good to discuss security.
However, most terminal companies are owned by governments, because they come out of publicly operated ports.
Of course, ports are owned and run by governments still, even in our country. Our country has mostly gotten out of terminal operations, forming U.S. companies that were then bought by other companies. But Israel has public ownership of terminal companies, as do most other states.
I don't "approve" of public ownership of companies, but it doesn't bother me in many cases. Our country, while not "owning" companies, implements control over companies by laws and collects the cut of the profits by taxes. Many companies have to get approval from government before taking actions.
Other countries simply own the companies, while still paying out to "investors" who invest through debt rather than stock.
I presume by "public ownership" you mean governmental ownership in this sentence. Well that is the question isn't it? How many Americans are troubled by merging the roles and functions of governments and business as reflected by this deal? That is the discussion we need to have. What are the consequences of legitimizing this merger of business and government to our civil and economic freedoms? As citizens in a supposedly self-governing republic we should not allow ourselves to be herded into accepting the overturning of the principles of our economic system through slight of hand deception or simply by default.
Some Americans, like you, will not be troubled by this drift toward merging these roles but many more, I suspect, will see it as a weakening and betrayal of our free market principles. We need to get these issues on the table and have the debate.