Ship Berthing Costs

[Stilleon]

Is the berthing costs on page 350 of the T20 Handbook correct? It seems a little expensive to park the ship for a two week annual overhaul.

According to the page to berth for two weeks at a class A starport would be Cr500 for the first six days then 500(!) per day for docking. That would be Cr4000 for the remaining eight days?

Suppose I leave and come back in a day? Can I get another six for Cr500? How long do you have to be gone to only pay Cr500 for the week.

And isn't there a daily berthing fee?

Any thoughts? Do I have this right? Thanks.

 

[far-trader]

I think (and always used to play it) that there are no berthing fees while undergoing annual maintenance (or repairs in general). They use a different part of the facilities and the costs are factored into the billing.

As for the lifting and landing idea, while sneaky and possible I usually figure there's a waiting period (holding orbit) at most class A & B ports (or busy ports at least).

I think I used to do a d6 roll with some DM's for the port (something like +2 for class A, +1 for class B, -1 for class C and -2 for class D, no waiting at others). I figure this even for the first landing upon arrival, unless you are a regular (i.e. scheduled) or book ahead (send payment on an earlier ship or via x-boat going the same place). I seem to recall a longer wait for repairs and maintenance too (unless booked ahead).

Most of the big boys have their own purchased slips and terminals (or even whole ports), its just the tourists and free-traders that pay the rates mentioned for the open capacity of the SPA Facilties.

Generally no one wants to stay any longer than needed to unload and load (and the SPA encourages this through their rate structure). If for whatever reason my PC's wanted to stay for an extended visit I'd probably advise them to park/orbit it somewhere out of the way and it'd cost a lot less. I'd probably use the six day figure for a monthly rate, but its basically just a parking space, no facilities of any kind, and a long walk to anywhere. It might even be free.

I don't think there's ever been a daily fee if you mean less than the first six days. The general assumption again being it takes a week to look for cargo and passengers.

 

[robject]

Besides, isn't the Cr4000 included in the price of an overhaul? Or, put another way, an overhaul is quite expensive in comparison, yes?

 

[Commander Drax]

I agree with robject, I seem to remember though from MegaTraveller that Berthing was Cr 500 for the first week and Cr 100 per day after that, so perhaps its a missprint.

I've always ignored berthing costs when annual maintainance was due, after all you are paying the facility for the maintainance, so it's not as if they're not making any money out of you...

Hmmm...

 

[Telsor]

When you take your car to the garage for it's regular maintainence you don't need to pay for parking do you?


I'd let this analogy hold for starship maint.

 

[womble]

As a comparison, my Google-fu tells me that berthing fees in Berkeley Marina for an 80 footer are $657.40 per month. However, there are a sight more marina berths on the West Coast than pads for starships in your typical Starport...

Commercial shipping pays by the ton or length:

http://www.nt.gov.au/dpa/port_charges/berthing_fees.html

So a 120m ship would pay about $60US a day. How this converts into YTU, is, of course, up to you.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Commander Drax:
I agree with robject, I seem to remember though from MegaTraveller that Berthing was Cr 500 for the first week and Cr 100 per day after that, so perhaps its a missprint.

Hmm, interesting, you made me go look because what you said sounded familiar. Turns out MT and CT were Cr100 for landing and first week and Cr100 per day after. That is the same as the T20 rates (pg. 350) for a class A orbital port berth. Its the down port that gets pricey at 5 times the orbital rates but you avoid the shuttle rates for your cargo, unless you took on all your cargo for orbital delivery. That leads to an interesting question...

Is there any trade (cargo or passengers) available at the orbital facility? Or is it all originated at ground level? I kind of like that as it forces more choices on the PC's. And makes for more adventure possibilities.

 

[robject]

Hey there far-trader,

"Classically", the freight/passenger destination is "in kind": either from orbit pick-up to orbit-delivery, or ground pick-up to ground-delivery.