 "Dakotan" and the other cargo ships in this South American service would typically deliver loads of coal, gasoline, or steel in exchange for the sodium nitrate.In May, "The Christian Science Monitor" reported on what may have been a typical delivery for "Dakotan".The ship had left Tocopilla with 91,872 bags—about —of sodium nitrate for use in making explosives, and, after transiting the newly reopened Panama Canal, arrived in Philadelphia.