The anticipated sale of the Long Beach Container Terminal has port approval at last.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners this week unanimously finalized the transfer of the terminal from Orient Overseas International Line to Macquarie Infrastructure Partners.

OOIL, a Chinese state-owned company, reached a deal to sell the terminal, one of the busiest in the port, for $1.78 billion. The agreement was announced April 30.

Orient has owned the Long Beach Container Terminal for about 30 years, first at Pier F, and then at the Middle Harbor site. OOIL signed a 40-year, $4.6 billion lease for Middle Harbor in 2012; the automated terminal is currently 200 acres, but will soon expand to 300 acres.

Noel Hacegaba, deputy executive director of the Port of Long Beach, said the months-long transaction process was intricate and involved one of “our most valuable port assets.”

“We look forward to working with Macquarie Infrastructure Partners in the decades to come,” Hacegaba said.

The facility sees about 2.7 million containers pass through each year. Shipments include a variety of goods, including appliances and other electronics, garments and furniture from China, Taiwan and other Asian countries.

Last year, China Ocean Shipping Co., commonly known as COSCO, bought Orient; but the U.S. government, which regulates mergers for antitrust and security reasons, stepped in and required COSCO to sell its rights to the Container Terminal before it could do so.

COSCO, which also has a stake in a Port of L.A. terminal, agreed in July 2018. In December, it began the process of selling the Long Beach terminal.

Macquarie, meanwhile, is a massive international fund headquartered in Australia, with $131 billion in assets.