Cargo ship Peak Pegasus (IMO 9634830), carrying $20m worth of soybeans from the US, finally docked in the port of Dalian on Saturday August 11th, more than a month after it arrived off China’s coast, missing by hours a deadline to deliver the goods before a new 25% tariff was imposed by China, reports Reuters.
The cargo had been collateral damage in the escalating trade war between China and the US. Peak Pegasus was scheduled to unload about 70,000 tonnes of American soya beans in the Chinese port of Dalian on July 6th, shortly after the current US administration imposed a first round of tariffs on $34bn-worth of goods. The vessel rushed to shore in the hope of clearing customs before Beijing imposed retaliatory tariffs. But the ship – and its protein-rich cargo – became an internet sensation on Chinese social media platform Weibo when she arrived just too late to avoid a retaliatory 25% tariff. The vessel had been sailing around in circles ever since while the cargo’s owners, understood to be the agricultural commodity trading house Louis Dreyfus, decided what to do.
The ship was moored in the port area of Dalian just after midnight on Sunday morning, suggesting that the cargo might be about to be unloaded. It would be one of the first US soybean shipments to China to pay the new tariff.
Two other ships carrying US soybeans, Star Jennifer and Cemtex Pioneer, have been anchored off China’s coast for the past few weeks. Star Jennifer, which had been sitting off Dalian since July 24, was moving on Sunday.
The 43,005 gt Peak Pegasus is owned by Defender 16 Ltd care of manager Peak Project Carriers AS of Nyborg, Norway. ISM manager is OSM Ship management Pte Ltd. It is entered with Gard Assuranceforeningen Gard – gjensidig – on behalf of Defender 16 Ltd.