Supply Chain Research

COSCO Shipping will reportedly launch the sale of Long Beach port assets it acquired as part of Orient Overseas, a commitment made to the U.S. government as part of that purchase. Retaining the two liners as customers will be vital for any buyer given they accounted for 26.7% of the ports’ inbound volumes in the 12 months to Oct. 31. They were the two largest, followed by Maersk whose APM Terminals division also owns facilities in the region. A bigger challenge for the new buyer will be the U.S.-China trade war – China represented 59.9% of inbound traffic to Long Beach.