Backup and archiving remain the biggest applications for digital magnetic tape although it is also used as a physical data transport device (as the old saying goes, you can ship more data on tape in a delivery truck over a shorter time than you can send electronically).
Mrs Thatcher wrote that one Peruvian ship had been sent away from France empty, but another ship was on its way to France to take delivery of weapons - Peru was protesting to France about a breach of contract.