Peak Pegasus: Trade war ship docks in China after two months drifting at sea

The Peak Pegasus’ long
journey.
Samantha Lee/Business
Insider

• 
  The Peak Pegasus became a symbol of the US-China trade war
  after it missed tariff deadlines and was forced to drift off
  the coast of China for over a month.
• It has finally docked at the Chinese port of Dalian and
  was offloading its soybean cargo on Monday.
• Chinese state grain stockpiler Sinograin agreed to pay
  the extra tariff costs, to the dismay of some Chinese
  taxpayers.

A ship that was left drifting off the coast of China for over
month due to the trade war between China and the US finally
docked on Monday,
Reuters reported.

The Peak Pegasus docked at the Chinese port of Dalian and has
been offloading its soybean cargo, worth over $20 million.

The vessel
became a symbol of the US-China trade war when it failed to reach
China before both Beijing and Washington imposed new tariffs on
each other last month. Those tariffs included soybeans and
the vessel was forced to spend five weeks waiting off the Chinese
coast as the owner of the cargo was unwilling to pay the costs.

It has now become one of the first major US soybean shipments to
incur the new tariffs imposed by Beijing in July, Reuters
reported.

Chinese state grain stockpiler Sinograin bought the shipment and
has agreed to pay the extra 25% in import tariffs, which adds
translates to $6 million.

Comments on Chinese social media platform Weibo pointed out that
Sinograin is state-owned and paid for by the taxpayer, meaning
that in this case, the Chinese people have subsidised their own
tariffs.

“Isn’t Sinograin state-owned? Who is this tariff hurting?
Eventually it is us paying the tariffs and it’s us being
sanctioned!” one Weibo user said.

Sinograin said the ship was delayed by port congestion despite
reports that there hadn’t been any major backlogs or blockages
since June. Another ship carrying US soybean cargo, The Star
Jennifer, has also been waiting off the Chinese coast for weeks.

Soybeans are the top US agricultural export to China. They are
used in cooking oil, biodiesel, and meal for livestock. Annual
soybean trade between the two nations totalled $12.7 billion in
2017.

Last week, the US announced it would begin to impose tariffs on
another $16 billion worth of goods from August 23 and Beijing
said it will respond in equal measure.