Challenge
In its heyday, the USS Long Beach, commissioned in 1961 as the first nuclear-powered surface warship, was a one-of-a-kind cruiser that served in Vietnam and the Gulf War, and participated in Operation Sea Orbit, the first all-nuclear cruise around the world. But as with most other great vessels, the cruiser eventually reached the end of its cruising days and was slated for recycling as prescribed for nuclear-powered ships.
The United States Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has a great deal of materials and assets that move through its numerous locations around the world on a daily basis; as assets reach the end of their useful life, it’s critical that they go through a sustainable disposition process. In the case of the USS Long Beach, the DLA had a unique challenge given the size and scope of the asset and turned to Liquidity Services, the industry leader in surplus asset management that manages the receipt, storage, marketing, and disposition of all useable surplus personal property and virtually all scrap property generated by Department of Defense installations throughout the United States.
Solution
Our experts provided a comprehensive asset disposition program that included the following:
- Inspected, organized, and cataloged more than 600 individual asset items.
- Assessed possible sales methodologies and initiated a sealed bid sales event given the nature of the asset.
- Marketing campaign that targeted international buyers with a focus on 34,000 professional scrap buyers.
- Leveraged database of qualified, select audience of buyers.
- Facilitated efficient checkout and removal of assets
Results
The USS Long Beach, located at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA, was sold at 118% of its initially projected value and scrapped for its non-hazardous and demilitarized base materials in the form of 7.35 million pounds of steel, aluminum, and copper wiring along with galley equipment, fixtures, and furnishings, which included tables, chairs, lockers, and bunks. This disposition process was part of the largest green and zero-waste initiative by the U.S. Government. Since 2001, Liquidity Services has successfully partnered with the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, reselling over two billion pounds of scrap material and returning capital to the U.S. Treasury.