Delivery, load and offload times?

[Spartan159]

So, after placing a purchase order for trade goods, how long does it take to get them to the ship, how long to load a ton of cargo, and will offloading take the same time? I am guessing that loading/offloading times are affected by Starport quality (equipment and personnel available) and/or integral ship equipment.

I am playing around with a campaign leading off with a merchant component and I can already see that a 2 week turnaround seems to be in the realm of freight merchants and those with offices on planet having cargo and passengers lined up already.

As far as that goes how much is berthing cost after the first week, any cheaper or more expensive? How about "long term parking?" How much is freight/cargo warehousing? I find myself wishing for a program that I just plug in my skills, stat bonus, and planetary UPP into and having it just present me with a list of goods and costs for a given world. Bonus if it can take purchased items to the next world and generate sale values

 

[Anonymous]

In space, you would likely use a lower gravity, but not zero gravity, to assist loading. In low gravity you could move loads more efficiently without the zero-G problems of having everything float off. If you can eject containers in orbit I don't even see why you need to unload with cranes.

On Earth at 1G without flying cranes, we can turn around a ship in 24 hours on a good day (it's not guaranteed) but some places are slower.

Container storage at the port is paid by the owner of the goods, and not the ship. The cost for that is basically negligible compared to the cargo cost, but you have to do it within a few days or it does get expensive. Something like $100 a day if you're within the limit. You may need to pay separate charges for a separate warehouse if your shipping is delayed due to customs inspection.

I haven't a clue on the cost to unload a ship. You could probably find a schedule of charges on the web but understanding it would difficult (I have a small boat and even for that it's hard to work everything out). Your best bet might be to ask on shipping forums.

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on the sales terms, and let's not forget insurance.

Free On Board sales price means you only have to pay freight and insurance from the point you receive the goods, and you have to pay for handling and associated costs where you unload them.

 

[Spartan159]

I found a rule in MegaTraveller that said 4 day delivery time, +10% sale price per day earlier, so +40% for same day delivery, does that seem reasonable/realistic? Insurance... ugh. Can-o-worms there. In the Type R Subsidized Merchant Operators Manual by Moon Toad Publishing (Nice book!), the scenario at the beginning of the book has a type R being unloaded under combat conditions in 15 minutes. To be honest I had not even thought about the gravity aspect. Then again you could always set the gravity plates (if so equipped) to counter local gravity, at least on board the ship. Inertia would still be hell to pay mind you.

 

[phavoc]

So, after placing a purchase order for trade goods, how long does it take to get them to the ship, how long to load a ton of cargo, and will offloading take the same time? I am guessing that loading/offloading times are affected by Starport quality (equipment and personnel available) and/or integral ship equipment.

I am playing around with a campaign leading off with a merchant component and I can already see that a 2 week turnaround seems to be in the realm of freight merchants and those with offices on planet having cargo and passengers lined up already.

As far as that goes how much is berthing cost after the first week, any cheaper or more expensive? How about "long term parking?" How much is freight/cargo warehousing? I find myself wishing for a program that I just plug in my skills, stat bonus, and planetary UPP into and having it just present me with a list of goods and costs for a given world. Bonus if it can take purchased items to the next world and generate sale values

A couple of mixed ideas here. The first being how fast CAN you unload a merchant vs. how fast would it REGULARLY unload. If you are in a big hurry you can yank out a great deal of cargo quickly. However that's not normal for most people. Cargo would be unloaded deliberately and efficiently, but not at a breakneck pace unless otherwise required. And much would depend on the type of ship, how many cargo bay access points it has, whether or not it has an inherent cargo unloading capability, and where exactly is the cargo going when it gets offloaded. Most cargo in the future will most likely move via containers like today because it's just so damn efficient. But every time that container comes out of the ship it needs to go somewhere - most likely onto a transport of some kind to move it to it's next destination. So that means you have a queue of transports to move containers, much like it happens today. That will happen at a regular and efficient pace. Assuming you have the optimal setup (cargo unloading equipment, available transports, space to maneuver in) you can probably unload a 10Dton container every 3-5 minutes at a regular pace. Smaller ships will probably use 3 and 5 ton sizes, and while you can unload them a bit quicker, a good rule of thumb would be to treat them all the same.

The other part of your question in regards to how the starport setup affects things is easy - it TOTALLY affects things! A class E starport is not going to have the fastest and latest gear. It won't have any really, so the crew will have to unload it using their own stuff, then possibly move it to the local shed/warehouse, or at least far enough away from the landing pad to stack the containers. You should easily double, triple or even quadruple the timeframe since you have so many unknowns. Ships may have rollers built into the floor to easily shift cargo around (as well as being able to alter gravity to make it easier, but mass remains mass) or lift mechanisms built into the ceiling. However none of that is useful once the container starts to leave the physical part of the ship. So you still need something external (the 'mule' mentioned in the MGT Free Trader book) is one idea. But depending on the size of a container you might be able to move it around with a pallet jack, or you just might be waiting for a truck with a crane to show up before you can do anything. As a referee think about what you want to equip your starport with equipment wise, and just how much tech it may have available. And then factor in the amount of traffic that comes to the world and that port to adjust your equipment list. Regular cargo runs will most likely have equipment set aside on a regular basis to unload. Those ports that have irregular deliveries by free traders and such won't likely have much available to be of use.

Berthing costs have a higher initial charge, then a regular per/day fee after that. Remember that's for Class A/B starports, anything less is going to have a sliding scale downwards. Higher fees are required when you need to force turnovers of precious berthing space. But on planets with cleared fields of dirt for landing pads, the number of ships they see will be relatively small, so if you needed a few weeks on the ground it's probably not a burden - even to your pocketbook. Cargo storage costs will be the same, though I don't have anything I've ever used to share. Could be 100/Cr/day/per 10Dton container, moving downwards as the class of starport goes down. Moving it away from the starport area could cut costs in half easily. Regular shipping concerns will have their own facilties, so these charges are only for itinerant like PC's would be.

 

[Infojunky]

According to the Starports book Cargo can be moved at three differing rates depending on how the port is set up.

Basic 1 dTon per 10 minutes
The next level is 1 per 5 minutes
And the final is 1 Per minute

From page 53 of Starports....