US soybean ship caught in trade war docks in Chinese port after sitting off coast for a month
It will be one of the first US shipments of the grain to incur the new penalties
A ship carrying soybeans from the United States docked in the port of Dalian on Saturday, more than a month after it arrived off China’s coast just hours after hefty tariffs were imposed on US goods, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon shipping data.
The short journey into the northern Chinese port was the first by Peak Pegasus, which has 70,000 tonnes of US soybeans on board, since it arrived off the coast on July 6 soon after Beijing imposed 25 per cent import duties on US$34 billion worth of US goods, including soybeans.
The penalties were in response to a similar move by Washington as part of a tit-for-tat trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.
The ship was moored in the port area just after midnight on Sunday morning, according to the latest data.
The move into the dock suggests the cargo may be about to be unloaded, becoming one of the first US soybean shipments to incur the new penalties as the trade dispute deepens. China’s state grain stockpiler Sinograin is the buyer of the shipment, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Two other ships carrying US soybeans, Star Jennifer and Cemtex Pioneer, have been anchored off China’s coast for the past few weeks.
