Freighter

Freighters are a class of ship designed to haul large amounts of cargo. Freighters are similar to Starliners and often built on the same chassis, but while Star Liners can carry cargo alongside passengers, Freighters cannot carry passengers outside of their crew compliment. This significantly cuts down on the unladen mass of the ship since life support requirements are lower than a passenger vessel. Freighters come in a wide variety of sizes and are usually modular to accommodate different cargo types (bulk goods, perishables, liquids, gasses, etc.). Most freighters are largely automated, maintaining only a skeleton crew to troubleshoot problems, maintain the drive systems, protect the cargo from pirates, and react to unforeseen situations.