The rules don’t currently support powering something in a docking clamp. I think it should, and that there should be an airlock in it, but that isn’t the case at the moment.
The UNREP system could be on the other end. It’s a good point and I will adjust that.
Cargo isn’t guaranteed to be able to be in zeroG conditions, so it probably does need gravity and that means it needs a power plant. The hull needs power. Thats the way the rules are written.
The vacuum bubble around the ship in jump will leach heat. Maybe enough to matter. Another reason it needs power.
These merchant tenders are for companies that can fill loads consistently. They could be lower tech I’m sure, though. Those aren’t the ships I made, though.
Designs are always something that can be tweaked for different needs. These are for higher end clientele.
I will make the economy pods, though. Then everyone can use something.
Yeah, the rules kind of fail in that area because they aren't designed as such. Really these containers are just starship-grade hull materials and they should have some batteries and deck plating to put some G in the container when it's being moved and in zero-G. Without people in there you'd not need any life support.
I'd expect most cargo's to be carried under at least low-G because it means your packaging and such would always be under G, and less likely for loads to shift around.
Heating elements are uber basic, and since you have starship-grade hull plating, that should be pretty well insulated. Like the LED lighting that should be easy to implement and simple to power from the ship. Some battery capability for powering things when it's not connected to a ship would be needed (like keeping the G load on your hull plating while it's being transferred). Batteries are pretty powerful in Traveller, so a small amount of units should give you 7-10 days of minimal load without too much displacement.
I'd make the containers as boring as they are today - boring rectangles that stack easy enough and have lots of 90 degree angles. For liquid loads I'd put the circular container within the frame because that, too, lends itself to easy handling without needing special equipment. That's something to consider too - when they aren't in active use they'll be stored, and if they are a common use item amongst your ports then you'd always have extra's lying around waiting to be filled (hence making them cheap so you aren't tying up lots of capital).
The size issue is a perennial question - assuming a ship is always able to fill them. That's something that has plagued modern container ship lines since containerization became a thing. They started building more and more ships that were bigger and bigger - until they got to the mega freighters of today and got hit with economic slumps. When their carrying capacity drops below a certain level it becomes a loss vs. a profit. I don't see Traveller as being any different. You'll have economic waves, and the better run shipping lines will try to operate in that sweet spot of not too much demand, not too much supply to keep their revenues steady. Your design, with the ability to add more tonnage, gives you some flexibility with demand load factors. Have you run any numbers to see what your break-even load factors might be? I do that sometimes on a design just to see if I captured it correctly. For ships that are supposed to be workhorses the modeling has to make sense (to me at least) in order to justify their existence. Only so many 'cool' factor ships should be flying around outside the norms.
