Hauling
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This page describes how to carry cargo ("hauling") in EVE. For specific advice on moving your own items, see moving your items.
Hauling Craft
This gives a rundown of the strengths and weaknesses of each type of hauling craft.
T1 Industrials
Primary use: Small, moderately expensive freight through hisec and/or lowsec (fast transports) or bulky, less expensive freight through hisec only (bulk transports)
Tech 1 industrials can be divided into two classes: fast transports and bulk transports. The fast transports can be used to move low-volume, high-value goods quickly and safely, while the bulk transports have much higher capacity but are slower and and have less tank. For example, the Wreathe can be fit to align in as little as 4 seconds while having 22k EHP, but would only have a cargo capacity of up to 4,622 m3. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a Bestower can be fit to carry up to 39k m3 but will take at least 13 seconds to align and have less than 8k EHP. To that end, fast transports can be fit to transport material through lowsec relatively safely, whereas bulk transports should be restricted to systems known to be safe unless accompanied by an escort, e.g. an OOC alt.
For fitting, industrials tend to have base powergrid around the level of destroyers and quite high amounts of CPU, which is mostly used by a shield tank. The low slots are often filled with expanded cargoholds, though these can be swapped out with inertia stabilizers nanofibers for smaller hauls to increase agility, thereby decreasing align time and cutting down a little on travel time. Agility mods are especially important on fast transports operating in low security space. If looking to do a lot of distribution missions or otherwise do a lot of traveling, warp speed rigs (Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizers) can cut travel time by more than half.
Each race has its own industrials, which require their racial Industrial skill -- for example, [[Skills:Amarr Industrial]]. These skills cannot be trained on a trial account and each racial skill is the prerequisite for the racial freighter skill. The Tech 1 industrials get 5% bonuses to cargo capacity and either agility (fast transports) or velocity (bulk transports) per level. You receive a free fast transport if you complete the Industry career agent missions.
The four races do not all have the same number of Tech 1 industrials, and which race's industrials will offer the highest cargo capacity depends on the amount of training time you are prepared to invest.
Amarr
The Bestower offers you the best potential cargo capacity for general cargo but has less than 8k EHP when fit this way. Meanwhile the Sigil is an overall poor industrial ship.
Caldari
The Badger has the highest base cargo capacity of the fast transports. The Tayra has the least potential capacity of the bulk transports but the highest base capacity and highest tank, however it is outperformed in fast, secure hauling by the Badger and in bulk hauling by the other races' bulk transports.
Minmatar
The Minmatar industrials are significantly faster than other industrials in the same ship class. They manage this speed without sacrificing tank or cargo capacity, making them ideal for doing distribution missions or even for lowsec hauling.
Gallente
The Gallente have several specialized ships (which have vast cargo bays but can only transport specific kinds of items in them), while the non-specialized fast/bulk transports give good all-round performance.
- Nereus (fast transport)
- Kryos (specialized ship for hauling minerals)
- Epithal (specialized ship for hauling planetary commodities)
- Miasmos (specialized ship for hauling ore)
- Iteron Mark V (bulk transport)
Blockade Runners (T2 Industrial)
- Main article: Blockade Runner
Primary use: Relatively small and/or very expensive cargo through lowsec/nullsec/w-space.
Blockade runners are the fastest and most agile industrial ships by quite a margin. They can align as quickly as a frigate, are some of the fastest ships in EVE at warp speeds, and even at sub-light speeds they can fly as quickly as a fast cruiser. Additionally, they can fit covert ops cloaking devices (and hence can warp while cloaked). This means that the only real danger to a properly fitted and flown blockade runner are the warp disruption bubbles in nullsec and w-space.
They can carry a little less cargo than the Tech 1 fast transports, but can be fitted to carry up to about 10,000m3 of cargo (enough to carry a packaged cruiser) at the cost of reduced agility and/or speed.
Deep Space Transport (DST, T2 Industrial)
Primary use: Very bulky, expensive cargo through highsec or scouted lowsec.
Unlike blockade runners, deep space transports (DST) have a larger capacity than their Tech 1 equivalents. They also have a fleet hangar that holds (base) 50,000m³. They have bonuses to active tanking, either shield resistances or armor resistances, helping them to fit substantial buffer tanks. Finally, they get a unique role bonus of 100% to overheating benefits of Afterburners, Microwarpdrives, Local Repair Modules, and Resistance Modules.
They also have a role bonus of +2 warp strength: this means they can't be tackled by just one warp disruptor or non-faction warp scrambler, though they can still be caught by bubbles, gangs of tacklers or HICs.
Where blockade runners are meant to rely on speed and stealth to slip by the enemy, deep space transports are designed to bust their way through the enemy, relying on their warp strength and tanking abilities to escape. This probably won't work against a determined and well-prepared gatecamp, and using a deep space transport indicates to all and sundry that you have cargo you want to protect, so you should think carefully before deploying one.
All DSTs have a base 50k m³ (60k m³ with the Transport Ships skill trained to IV) fleet hangar which can hold any type of cargo, assembled ships, or even packaged battleships. As such, fitting these ships for cargo is redundant since cargo rigs and modules only affect the much smaller main cargo bay. DSTs should be fit and skilled into to play to their active tanking and overheating bonuses in order to maximize survivability, as these ships will primarily be used to transport large quantities of high-value goods.
Freighters
Primary use: Moving massive freight through hisec, often between trade hubs
Freighters are the ultimate cargo carrying ships, with vast cargo holds. Tech 1 freighters can sometimes be spotted on New Eden's major highsec trade routes, while the Tech 2 jump freighters are used to transport cargo out to nullsec. All freighters have no high, mid, or rig slots but with the Kronos expansion received 3 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 hardwiring implants.
Freighters are subject to certain restrictions: Assembled containers and assembled secure containers cannot be put in a freighter's cargo hold, so that pilots can't use containers to increase freighters' cargo capacity in the same way that they're used to increase the capacity of industrials. The Retribution patch removed the previously existing restriction on jetcans.
Use Freighters for huge cargo through high sec and very short distances into low sec. These require proper support (someone to web for faster aligns, scouts, preferably some EW).
