Freighters

Freighters are cargo ships with vast cargo holds. Freighters can often be spotted on New Eden's major highsec trade routes, while Jump Freighters are used to transport cargo out to null- and lowsec. Freighters have no high, mid, or rig slots but they do have three low slots, with restrictive CPU and Powergrid to limit the available modules with a role bonus to Reinforced Bulkheads. A freighter pilot's only other way of enhancing their ship's performance is via implants or drugs.

Freighters are subject to certain restrictions: Assembled station containers (including secure containers) cannot be put in a freighter's cargo hold, so that pilots can't use them to increase freighters' cargo capacity. Freight containers can be carried.

The four general freighters are good for carrying very large amounts of cargo in high security space. They align and warp too slowly to be safely used in lowsec or nullsec. Freighters have a lot of hit points, but they are definitely not immune to suicide ganking: organised gank groups bring enough damage to kill any freighter, however it is fitted. A freighter's defence is intel, technique and support, not tank (see Flying freighters).

The ORE freighter is specialized in carrying assembled ships, and is used widely for transporting incursion ships through high security space.

With the Equinox update, a new Upwell freighter specialised for PI hauling has been introduced. Unlike the other freighters it can fit weapons, but they are not a major consideration for gank prevention or safety.

All freighters get 5% bonuses to cargo capacity (or ship maintenance bay in the case of the Bowhead) and velocity per level of the faction's freighter skill ( Amarr Freighter,  Gallente Freighter, etc.). Since you must train the freighter skill to at least level one, the base capacity of the ship is only used to calculate the actual capacity.

The  Providence has

• A cargo hold starting at a base of 435,000 m3 and a max of 1,127,015 m3
• A velocity starting at a base of 70 m/s
• Second most agile and second highest EHP.

The  Charon has

• The largest cargo hold of the group, starting at a base of 465,000 m3 and a max of 1,204,741 m3
• The slowest velocity of the group, started at a base 60 m/s
• Least agile of the group.

The  Obelisk has

• A cargo hold starting at a base of 440,000 m3 and a max of 1,139,969 m3
• A velocity starting at a base of 65 m/s
• Highest EHP of the group.

The  Fenrir has

• The same size cargo hold as the Providence, starting at a base of 435,000 m3 and a max of 1,127,015 m3
• The fastest velocity of the group, started at a base 80 m/s)
• Most agile of the group.

The  Bowhead has

• A negligible general cargo hold of 4,000 m3
• An enormous Ship Maintenance Bay of 1,600,000 m3
• A velocity starting at a base of 65 m/s
• Extra three mid slots and three rig slots, much higher CPU and Powergrid and can fit Damage Control and Microwarpdrive.

The  Avalanche has

• A moderately sized general cargo hold of 205,000 m3
• A colossal PI specialised hold at a base of 2,000,000 m3, and a max of 3,000,000 m3
• A moderate base velocity of 75 m/s
• A unique freighter slot layout of 6H / 3M / 3L, with 6 launcher slots

Freighter capacity

Freighter	Base (m3)	Skill I	Skill II	Skill III	Skill IV	Skill V
Providence	435,000	456,750	478,500	500,250	522,000	543,750
Charon	465,000	488,250	511,500	534,750	558,000	581,250
Obelisk	440,000	462,000	484,000	506,000	528,000	550,000
Fenrir	435,000	456,750	478,500	500,250	522,000	543,750

Freighter survivability

Freighter	Shield	Armor	Structure	Base EHP	Max EHP
Providence	12,000	55,200	120,000	277,433	560,178
Charon	60,000	18,000	93,000	248,231	475,663
Obelisk	16,800	48,000	132,000	291,298	598,847
Fenrir	57,600	26,400	78,000	234,977	432,422

Freighters can be found in the market under: Capital Ships ► Freighters. They also use capital parts to build but are nevertheless generally not considered capital ships.

Flying freighters

See also: Hauling

A freighter cannot fit a cloak or a nullifier, aligns slowly, and cannot be made safe by tank. It survives on intel, technique and support:

• Stay in highsec. Freighters belong in highsec; low and null security space is jump freighter territory.
• Scout where it matters. Use a scout through Jita, known gank systems and their neighbours, and check gates before you jump into them. You don't need to scout every jump.
• Know the gank methods. Organised gank fleets usually hold a freighter with suicide tackle on the gate, or bump it off the gate with a fast, heavy ship until the damage fleet arrives. If the next gate is camped and there is no station in the system, don't go in: wait docked a system earlier.
• Use a webber, but only where it counts. A webbing alt gets the freighter into warp almost at once, which beats bumpers and cuts your time on grid. Use it in gank pipes and on Jita entry, webbing from the gate to a station you can insta-dock at. Don't web every jump: it raises your gank profile. A web against suicide tackle on the same server tick is a 50/50 roll, so a webber does not beat tackle.
• Insta-dock bookmarks, but no insta-undock bookmarks. A freighter aligning to an undock bookmark can be combat-probed and caught. Undock with Align rather than Warp, so you can redock without cancelling first.
• Never autopilot. Autopilot lands you 15 km from the gate and crawls in.
• Keep the cargo value inside what you are willing to lose, and remember that empty freighters get ganked too. Don't carry assembled freight containers or double-wrapped courier packages (a container or a package inside a courier package). Gankers can't see into a double wrap, so it makes you look valuable.
• If you are bumped and have no timers on you, use Log Off (not Safe Log Off): your ship leaves space after about a minute.

Fitting principles

• Tank is a trap. Reinforced Bulkheads and other tank modules do not keep a freighter safe: organised gank groups bring enough damage to kill any fit, and the extra hit points only cost you speed or cargo.
• For travel, fit one Inertial Stabilizer and two Prototype Hyperspatial Accelerators. Swap in Expanded Cargoholds as the load needs, dropping the Inertial Stabilizer first. Three Inertial Stabilizers only win on very short trips.
• Avoid expensive faction or ORE modules, which raise your gank profile.

History

With the Kronos update, freighters and jump freighters all gained 3 low slots and reductions in cargo capacity. They can be fit to surpass their pre-Kronos cargo capacities with expanded cargoholds at the expense of tank. The tendency for freighter pilots to fit for maximum ISK rather than maximum tank and then proceed to autopilot their freighters between trade hubs led to widespread ganking. Fitting Reinforced Bulkheads does not fix that, because organised gank groups bring enough damage to kill any freighter fit. What keeps a freighter alive is never using the autopilot, scouting, and keeping the cargo value inside what you are willing to lose (see Flying freighters).