Dedicated Freighters and Containerized Cargo

[Ran Targas]

From the prospective of someone in the airlines industry, one thing has bothered me about most canon freighter designs; they are all generic and none are true freighters.

My point: if you are a shipping company, you don't need ships with passenger staterooms, you need that space for cargo. If you are a passenger service, then a large amount of the deck space will be dedicated to passengers or passenger activities (look at cruise ships) not to cargo.

Sure, today's passenger planes still have lower deck compartments for limited cargo hauling but the freighter aircraft are just that, freighters. Everything that can improve performance and reduce weight is removed and the only area for crew is the cockpit. Granted, there are some aircraft out there that fit the Trav Far Trader model; they are called "combies" or combinations and are few and far between. They tend to be used by small, national airlines to support distant cities with passenger and freight services.

As for containerized cargo; it is the only way to go! I know this topic was already beat to death but I can tell you from experience that containerizing cargo allows for the most efficient use of cargo space and handling equipment and facilities.

I've used containers IMTU for a long time; one thing it does is give freighter captains and engineers something to do when the cargo is being delivered. I have them load plan the shipment and ensure no dangerous materials are mingled. They also check every container for stowaways and contraband.

 

[Hemdian]

IIRC (my stuff is in storage) MT had the Common Imperial Transport ship. From the illustration it looked like a large cylindrical cargo module with a detachable tug. IMTU the megacorps, like Tukera Lines, use fleets of these in a system not dissimilar in organisation to the xboat system. (Jump ships are met at 100d where the module is passed to a recharged jump ship with a fresh crew who then take it on the next leg.) The CITs are used for the main routes and cargo is decanted into smaller vessels, like the 3000 dton Hercules, for feeder routes.

The Free Trader type ships are for backwaters and small cargos that have, for whatever reason, been left by the big boys. In other words, most of the merchant ships detailed are niche types and not how the 3I ships the bulk of its freight. They are for PCs and the like.

Regards PLST

 

[MR TEK]

I always pictured free traders and their cousins as the tramp freighters of the universe, mostly cargo, but can take a couple of passengers.

They even fill the same role, small cargos that are not following the more economically favorable trade routes, are to small, or one-time deliveries, contraband, and other cargos that for whatever reason, the subsidized freighters are not practical.

The subsidized merchants fill the role of greyhound and the smaller air traffic that carries both passengers, and light (ground or air) freight. No one has dealt with the big freighter networks, cause, unless an interesting cargo is being shipped that way, freighters are BORING. Ask the crew of a big cargo container ship, or supertanker. A day in port, two weeks at sea, and NOTHING EVER CHANGES. NOT the stuff of thrill-a-minuet space opera gaming fame. Passenger liners would be akin to the big luxury liners of the pre airline era. Some interest if an interesting NPC were aboard, otherwise just a way from point A to B.

Just my views.

Mr TeK

 

[Evo Plurion]

Originally posted by Mr TeK:
...unless an interesting cargo is being shipped that way, freighters are BORING. Ask the crew of a big cargo container ship, or supertanker. A day in port, two weeks at sea, and NOTHING EVER CHANGES. NOT the stuff of thrill-a-minuet space opera gaming fame.

You mention a very important gaming point - "...unless an interesting cargo is being shipped..."

Most published Traveller adventures avoid such scenarios. But some really interesting and exciting role-playing opportunities could be created in a lonely-cargo-ship-in-deep-space-setting.

Alien, anyone?

 

[clementk]

Well it's not exactly a big passenger freighter per se but the Oriental Express (most whichever one you pick) was far from boring not to mention having inspired several stories, movies, and at least two games.
link 1 link 2

So a passenger liner that crosses the boarder between say the Zhos or the Sol Confederation and the Imperium could be very interesting. Lots of intriguing people on board any given trip (including people who aren't who they say they are or aren't there for what their ticket says

). A good choice of worlds (esp. the endpoints) would be critical IMO.

Casey

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Ran Targas:
From the prospective of someone in the airlines industry, one thing has bothered me about most canon freighter designs; they are all generic and none are true freighters.

My point: if you are a shipping company, you don't need ships with passenger staterooms, you

I differ on this one. Many freighter lines allow passenger travel.

See: The Internet Guide to Freighter Travel


There are many, many things useful for the Traveller GM all over this website.

I view space travel as far more analogous to sea travel than air travel.

Originally posted by Ran Targas:
need that space for cargo. If you are a passenger service, then a large amount of the deck space will be dedicated to passengers or passenger activities (look at cruise ships) not to cargo.

Sure, today's passenger planes still have lower deck compartments for limited cargo hauling but the freighter aircraft are just that, freighters. Everything that can improve performance and reduce weight is removed and the only area for crew is the cockpit. Granted, there are some aircraft out there that fit the Trav Far Trader model; they are called "combies" or combinations and are few and far between. They tend to be used by small, national airlines to support distant cities with passenger and freight services.

As for containerized cargo; it is the only way to go! I know this topic was already beat to death but I can tell you from experience that containerizing cargo allows for the most efficient use of cargo space and handling equipment and facilities.

This includes travel aboard container ships, as is shown in the photo on the webpage.

<snip>

 

[RainOfSteel]

For further reading:

Freighter World Cruises, Inc.

Freighter Cruise Directory

The Freighter Travel Club

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

No one has dealt with the big freighter networks, cause, unless an interesting cargo is being shipped that way, freighters are BORING. Ask the crew of a big cargo container ship, or supertanker. A day in port, two weeks at sea, and NOTHING EVER CHANGES. NOT the stuff of thrill-a-minuet space opera gaming fame.

True, but I've used cargo containers to haul various hidden contraband before, including a hijacking team out to capture the bulk freighter!

Here's an example that I stole from the evening news and used for a game (the news story was about illegal immigrants sneaking their way into the US aboard cargo containers). The crew is in jump en route to their destinatiion when pounding noises start coming from a locked container. After breaking the lock, the crew finds that the 8-ton container holds refugees in truly squalid living conditions (not enough food or water, a bucket for sanitary facilities, etc.). They find that the refugees have become gravely ill from the lack of sanitation in the container (I've forgotten the exact disease I stuck them with, I think it was similar to cholera but more contageous). The refugees were dying, the disease got into the crew and began to infect them, panic insued, and it became a mutiny situation pretty quickly with crewmembers blaming each other and the captain and the refugees and the cargo broker who payed them to carry the container for what was happening. All in all, damn good fun for an evening.

Also, I think that the entire movie Alien was based around the crew of, what is essentially, a containerized cargo vessel.

Also, come to think of it, if current overnight shipping componies like FedEx and UPS could be converted to Traveller then they could be considered fast container transport companies and you could have them engage in a Corporate War campaign.

Just a few thoughts off the cuff, mind you....

 

[aramis]

Yeah, the nostromo is a cargo ship, according to the Aliens RPG.

I treat the 400TD subbies as the largest tramps and the mail & pakage ships. IMTU, Big liners only run on major runs.

 

[Spiderfish]

The Nostromo was hauling ore in a sort of smelting platform thing according to the text a the start of Alien.

 

[jasper]

don't get me started on how whimpy the aliens were or how stupid the people were in the first three movies

 

[robject]

I always figured that any large-volume shipping was done with containerized ships: backbones with a cabin and jump drive, and connectors for dozens of freight pods. A ship would jump, some containers would be ejected while others would be attached while the ship was refuelled, and the ship would jump again.

Or something like that.

In more frontiersy areas, they'd have an armed escort and travel in packs.

 

[aoehler]

I believe that in general, the containerized system makes sense, but I can imagine all sorts of cases besides the that general one.

For example, how much cargo flow through a particular system? Is the system located in strategic spot? Does it have a good source of fuel? Then likely, the containerized system would apply?

But, consider the case where you have neighboring systems... one is largely agricultural, and the other is highly industrial. Then, suppose that the ag. world exports a lot of food to the tech world. There might be some specialized ships for that case. These ships may be equiped to land right next to the farms for loading. They may have special refrigeration. Or other special equipment.

Think of the fishing boats in Alaska... they go out and catch fish, and then start processing the fish in the hold of the ship. By analogy, a starship might be equipped to pick up raw foodstuff (plants or animals) at the ag. world and then processing the stuff mid-flight.

I guess my real point is, that it's a large universe out there and there's plenty of room for every conceivable system around.

Andy

 

[Vargas]

Tramp starships are, let's face it, something of a game conceit to facilitate adventures. Yes, they are quite like the tramp freighters on the sites given above (cool references by the way) so they're a good baseline to work from, IMO. (Other than maybe the fare structure, $95/person/day with 60 days up front is a pretty expensive way to travel).

 

[robject]

Originally posted by AndyO:
I believe that in general, the containerized system makes sense, but I can imagine all sorts of cases besides the that general one.

[...]

I guess my real point is, that it's a large universe out there and there's plenty of room for every conceivable system around.

Andy

To expand on Andy's point a bit, worlds and markets are often big enough to warrant specialized solutions.

I'd probably have containerized ships on established, long-haul routes, like those which parallel the X-Boat route perhaps.

 

[Ran Targas]

The beauty of containers is that you can build a container to hold just about anything and not have to make dramatic changes to the craft carrying it.

Today there are refrigerated containers, livestock containers, and all sorts of hazmat containers.

Sure, I can see in Trav there being plenty of bulk freighters (tankers, ag ships, ore carriers, etc.) but if the freight can be palletized or containerized, it's a whole lot easier to handle.

 

[aoehler]

Robject,

Absolutely agree. Thanks for stating it so succintly!

regarding tramp freighters: here's another analogy. Many tourists travelling to the Greek islands hire a private charter to sail around. These private charters are typically Turkish; formerly were small merchant ships; now converted to cruising.

So, I could see small passenger ships in the back waters...

But, to reiterate, the main routes will evolve to move cargo and people in the most efficient (cheapest) means possible.