Trade Goods Storage

[Jackstar]

How much does it cost to store trade goods at a starport? Is it more for a space station/high port?

My players have docked at Gibraltar Station then bought and paid for some trade goods for delivery in 6 days time. The next day they found that they had to leave in a hurry, so wanted to arrange for the trade goods to be stored, so they could pick them up later. I decided that low security storage would cost 100 Cr per month per ton. Does that seem right?

 

[Reynard]

Considering the prices for U store facilities around my way, it sounds very reasonable. Probably have to supply your own security for enhanced protection or pay extra.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

In any case, he has a better deal. A previous client of his demounted and stored a set of demountable fuel tanks, with a total capacity of 50 tons, in his warehouse and has not returned for them far over 12 months. Since the storage charges have mounted up, he is prepared to sell them to recoup the charges. His price: Cr18,500 (that's the standard price for a year's storage).

So, Cr 18500 for 50 Dton for 12 months, or about Cr 31 per Dton per month.

Cr 100 per Dton per month sounds reasonable for smaller lots or shorter time?

 

[Condottiere]

You mentioned low security.

It depends upon location, and the landlord's expected return on investment.

A space station has a default capital investment of fifty thousand schmuckers per tonne, rate of return at five percent plus forty year mortgage, that maybe two hundred kay divided by say two thousand weeks? Not to mention compensation when the locker is unused.

Two hundred schmuckers default, double to four hundred schmuckers base per tonne.

Asteroid storage may be one tenth of that, dirtside on current real estate cost, though you could erect a spaceport for that particular purpose in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Jackstar]

Thanks for the responses.

Only low security is needed because its just Common Raw Materials. Not worth the risk of stealing.
Gibraltar Station is an old, large orbital facility that charges higher-than-average (+20%) fees (Reach Adventure 5: The Borderland Run, page 14).
So 100 Cr per ton per month looks near enough fro my game.

 

[Old School]

As good a guess as any. As long as youve got a decent justification for it, go with and play on.

How do you like that particular adventure? Have you played the predecessors? How does it compare?

 

[phavoc]

For bulk items like that, with low security, it's a reasonable cost, though perhaps slightly too cheap.

Highports are always going to be more space limited than downports. Unless the goods can be stored in a container sitting in a vacuum or even outside the station, most likely they will be in a storage area with life support active. At a downport you can stuff them in a container and put them behind a chain link fence with (possibly) lights for security. 100credits/ton for a downport is reasonable. I'd probably at least add in the 20% cost for the highport to reflect it's higher inherent costs unless you are letting the containers float in a nearby orbit for storage.

There is an adventure, I forget which, that has a nearby 'storage' area of empty containers a few kilometers from the space station. Storage of that type would be very cheap (for orbital storage at least). And could lead to some interesting adventures for when their goods get lost, or bumped, or stolen.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[Linwood]

Very reasonable fees. With slight risk of storage area exploding and propelling the moon thousands of light years away. Best to get insurance for that....

 

[Jackstar]

How do you like that particular adventure? Have you played the predecessors? How does it compare?

I like the Borderland Run, I am using it as an ice breaker in a Pirates of Drinax campaign. It gets the "pirates" travelling around the Borderlands, picking up rumours and missions. The players got given the Harrier, were then told to go Cordan to pick up their new turret and heard a rumour about an urgent charter. The Harrier is making the initial part fairly easy (especially as they have edited their transponder log using the new rules in The Traveller Companion), but things are about to get interesting as they get closer tot the end.

By predecessors, do you mean the 1e Into The Borderland and Counterweights and Measures? I have bought both of these but not played them yet. I don't think that Into The Borderland will fit well in a Pirates of Drinax campaign but it provides useful background information. I do think that Counterweights and Measures will work in Pirates of Drinax and have given one of the players Juliette Kamahl (the main patron) as a contact.

 

[Jackstar]

For bulk items like that, with low security, it's a reasonable cost, though perhaps slightly too cheap.

Highports are always going to be more space limited than downports. Unless the goods can be stored in a container sitting in a vacuum or even outside the station, most likely they will be in a storage area with life support active. At a downport you can stuff them in a container and put them behind a chain link fence with (possibly) lights for security. 100credits/ton for a downport is reasonable. I'd probably at least add in the 20% cost for the highport to reflect it's higher inherent costs unless you are letting the containers float in a nearby orbit for storage.

There is an adventure, I forget which, that has a nearby 'storage' area of empty containers a few kilometers from the space station. Storage of that type would be very cheap (for orbital storage at least). And could lead to some interesting adventures for when their goods get lost, or bumped, or stolen.

I view Common Raw Materials as something like iron ore, so in vacuum outside is fine, but I would expect them to be tied down.
If the goods are lost they can afford to write them off. (But they might chase them down anyway.)

 

[DickTurpin]

The 1st edition book Starports lists the cost of storage on page 12. The cost depends of the starport class, with a class A 'port charging Cr. 500/ton each week, and the price goes down by Cr. 100 for each step down the list. The players are better off cancelling the sale, even if they have to pay a couple hundred credits per ton as a penalty. Common trade goods are always available and the potential profit is so low that is does not make sense to pay for long term storage.

 

[Jackstar]

The 1st edition book Starports lists the cost of storage on page 12. The cost depends of the starport class, with a class A 'port charging Cr. 500/ton each week, and the price goes down by Cr. 100 for each step down the list. The players are better off cancelling the sale, even if they have to pay a couple hundred credits per ton as a penalty. Common trade goods are always available and the potential profit is so low that is does not make sense to pay for long term storage.

Thanks, I don't have that book. 500 or 400 Cr per month is more than they want to pay. You are correct that they should have just accepted the loss. But at least it gives them an excuse to go back to an interesting system.

 

[Pyromancer]

Some planets offer storage space for free, to attract more traders and traffic. More xenophobic ones might not allow storage at all or charge exorbitant prices: Who will be responsible if something goes wrong with the stored goods after all, when the owners are parsecs away and might never return? Some kind of insurance might be required, too.

 

[Condottiere]

As I mentioned before, if you want to remain in space, find a spaceport located on an asteroid, it should be ten times cheaper.

 

[Pyromancer]

As I mentioned before, if you want to remain in space, find a spaceport located on an asteroid, it should be ten times cheaper.

If you want it really cheap, just ditch the containers into space, away from the frequented routes, and remember their trajectory.

 

[Condottiere]

Drug traffickers moving shipments from South America via maritime routes through Central America and Mexico are constantly changing strategies to avoid detection and seizure. In a recent article, Costa Rican web daily CR Hoy reported on a new tactic that allows traffickers to leave cocaine shipments at high-sea attached to GPS-enabled radio or satellite buoys.

This tactic is unique because it effectively mitigates risk and turns the ocean into a veritable storage unit for traffickers with little to no risk of loss or arrest of personnel. Radio and satellite buoys were first noted by Colombian authorities in late 2014, but Central American authorities have indicated the tactic has moved into their area of operations (AO) in recent months.

https://dialogo-americas.com/en/articles/drug-traffickers-utilize-gps-enabled-satellite-buoys-locate-cocaine-shipments

 

[steve98052]

I would imagine that highports would have warehouse spars that consist of long spars with lots of docking clamps, maybe a pair every four meters or so, with each pair offset 90° from the pairs before and after. To use them, pay for a clamp reservation, clamp a stack of 10, 20, or 100 shipping containers together, transmit the unlock code for a clamp, push the stack into place, transmit the lock code, and upon returning later, unlock, pull the stack away, and load the stack into the cargo hold.

The spars wouldn't need to be very strong. They don't maneuver beyond station keeping. If there's a significant maneuver required, the station might have to detach the spars and have tugs handle them, but that's probably far from routine.

 

[NOLATrav]

... long spars with lots of docking clamps...

Very cool idea. Consider it yoinked and added to that LL3 Class B highport the PCs are headed to...

 

[steve98052]

I'm tempted to do an illustration. The geometry is easier than a lot of things one might draw.