US Soy Cargo Set to Head for Singapore after China Offload
Posted by Joseph Keefe
July 2, 2018
A vessel carrying over 70,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans is expected to head towards Singapore after apparently offloading some of its cargo at the Chinese port of Tianjin, according to shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon
The Aeolian Fortune was one of at least six ships anchored off the Chinese coast as escalating Sino-U.S. trade tensions left soy trade between the world's top two economies in limbo
The Aeolian Fortune had been sitting at the northern port of Tianjin since June 22, fully laden, at 89-percent draft
But the vessel, still moored at Tianjin, changed its final destination to the port of Singapore over the weekend, and had a 46-percent draft as of Monday afternoon, according to the data
It is due to arrive at Singapore on July 12, the data shows
The Peak Pegasus, another vessel carrying 70,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans that was expected to be the last to land in China before steep tariffs kick in, is now scheduled to arrive at 3am local time on July 6 (1900 GMT on July 5), 11 hours later than its previously estimated time of arrival
Beijing says it will impose an extra 25 percent import duty on more than 500 U.S. goods, including soybeans, on July 6, in response to Washington's plan to slap duties on $50 billion of Chinese goods.
It was unclear whether the new tariffs would now be applicable to the Peak Pegasus cargo.
Reporting by Hallie Gu and Josephine Mason