Most of the freight and passengers passing through a port already have a carrier. Sometimes contracted months in advance. The tramp freighters niche is the last minute load, the passenger that no one else will carry.
   Only a portion of the cargo and passengers moving through a port are going to one particular location. To determine how much is available the WTN (world trade number) of each must be calculated. From these numbers the BTN (bilateral trade number) can be calculated and the amount of passengers and cargo for a route determined.

UWTN=pop/2+TL mod
WTN=UWTN+port mod
BTN=WTN1+WTN2+Trade mod-Distance mod
BTN cannot be more than five greater than the smallest WTN

                        TL mods 

TL 0-2	TL 3-4	TL 5-6	TL 7-8	TL 9-11	TL 12-13	TL 14-15	TL 16+
-0.5	0	0.5	1	1.5	2	2.5	3

                                        Starport class 

UWTN	A	B	C	D	E	X
>7	0	-1	-1.5	-2	-2.5	-5
6-6.5	0	-0.5	-1	-1.5	-2	-4.5
5-5.5	0	0	-0.5	-1	-1.5	-4
4-4.5	0.5	0	0	-0.5	-1	-3.5
3-3.5	0.5	0.5	0	0	-0.5	-3
2-2.5	1	0.5	0.5	0	0	-2.5
1-1.5	1	1	0.5	0.5	0	0
<1	1.5	1	1	0.5	0.5	0

        Trade mods
    If one world is In and one is Ni  +0.5        If one world is Ri +0.5
    If one world is Ag and one is Na +0.5      If worlds are of different polities -1

   Distance Modifiers

Parsecs	Modifier	Parsecs	Modifier
1	0	60-99	3.5
2	0.5	100-199	4
3-5	1	200-299	4.5
6-9	1.5	300-599	5
10-19	2	600-999	5.5
20-29	2.5	1000+	6
30-59	3

    Average Passengers and Cargo available to Tramp Traders

BTN	Dtons/day	Passengers/day	BTN	Dtons/day	Passengers/day
<6	0	0	10	1-5k	50-100
6.5	d6-1	0	10.5	1-5k	50-100
7	d6+4	d6-1/wk	11	5-10k	100-500
7.5	10+(10*d6-2)	d6+4/wk	11.5	5-10k	100-500
8	10+(10*d6-2)	d6-1	12+	10-50k	500-1000
8.5	40+(10*d6-1)	4+d6
9	100*d6-1	4+d6
9.5	500-1k	10-50

    Adjust as necessary for evil GM plots.

At the source system

Freight and Passengers:
Freight availability: 3d-3 x BTN dtons of freight are available (up to the maximum available daily) for the traders destination each day. Roll 4d-2 for size of lot in dtons.
    Price: Main or Feeder routes: 600 Cr/dton/parsec
             Minor routes or Frontier worlds: 650 Cr/dton/parsec
             Express (J3+): 750 Cr/dton/parsec
DMs: Broker skill

Passenger availability: (2d-2) x BTN passengers are available (up to the maximum available daily) for the traders destination each day. To find the number in each category roll 1d starting with low and proceeding to the higher classes until all passengers are assigned.
    Price: High: 5000Cr/parsec
             Middle: 2500Cr/parsec
             Low: 250Cr/parsec
DMs: Steward skill. Advertising
Advertising for passengers.
    A DM may be gained by advertising in local media. Spending 30 Cr/day for 5 days gains +1. Multiply outlay by 10 for each additional +, eg. 3000 Cr/day for 5 days gives +3, 300000/day would give +5, etc..

Speculative Trade:
    Finding trade goods which will bring a profit at the traders destination world requires a skill roll.

    To find speculative cargo.
    Difficult; Broker/Trader, 2 days.
    Exceptional failure- No trade goods found
    Failure- d6-4 lots found.
    Success- d6-2 lots found, minimum 1 lot.
    Extreme Success- d6+3 lots found.
If the source world has a class C or better port, is TL B+, or has a TAS office (If the character belongs to TAS) the time interval becomes 1 day

Trader skill may be used to determine the likely price on the destination world.
    To predetermine the price of a lot of cargo at the destination world.
    Difficulty; Trader, Edu; 1 day
    The baseline task is for a 2 week forecast. (1 jump) and is Difficult. Increase difficulty one level for each two weeks additional forecast.
4 weeks Formidable, 6 weeks Impossible, etc... On success the trader may roll (and record) one die of the sale price roll before buying the goods.
If the source world has a class C or better port, is TL A+, or has a TAS office (If the character belongs to TAS) the time interval becomes one hr and difficulty is reduced one level.
 

Risk (2d) 2-3 High Risk 4-8 Moderate Risk 9-12 Low Risk	Source lot Price (2d) 2 1 MCr 3 500 kCr 4-5 100 kCr 6-7 50 kCr 8-10 20 kCr 11-12 10 kCr Roll 2d for +/- 50% of base price	Lot Size (2d) 2 8d-4 dton 3-4 6d-3 dton 5-7 4d-2 dton 8-12 2d-1 dton
Cargo Type (3d) 3-6 Wet Bulk 7-10 Dry Bulk 11-13 Break bulk 14 RO/RO* 15-18 Container *Takes up 2x actual tonnage	Terms of Shipping (3D) 3-5 EXW 6 FAS 7 FOB 8-12 CIF 13 DES 14 DEQ 15-18 DFD	Special Handling (3d) 3-4 Biohazard 5 Valuable 6 Living 7 Perishable 8-12 None 13 Fragile 14 Flammable 15 Corrosive 16 Explosive 17 Radioactive 18 Roll Twice Roll 2d for the base chance of mishap for each characteristic

Terms of Shipping
EXW- Ex-works. Buyer accepts the goods at the sellers premises.
FAS- Free alongside ship. Seller delivers the goods to the ships berth.
FOB- Free on Board. Seller delivers the goods at the ships hatch.
CIF- Cost, Insurance and Freight. Seller pays the costs and freight charges necessary to bring the goods to the destination and must clear the goods for export.
DES- Delivered Ex-ship. Seller delivers the goods on ship and uncleared for importation at the destination. Seller pays for shipping and handling at the port of origin. Buyer pays for handling at the destination.
DEQ- Delivered Ex-Quay. Seller delivers the goods to the buyer at the berth at the destination port cleared for importation. Seller pays for all shipping, handling and costs to deliver the goods to the destination port. (Most common arrangement for speculative cargo)
DFD- Delivered free domicile. Seller delivers the goods to a named place on the destination world, cleared for importation. Seller pays all shipping, handling and costs to deliver the goods to the buyer.
* The ships captain or a person designated by him often acts as the agent for the buyer or seller as needed.

Event	EXW	FAS	FOB	CIF	DES	DEQ	DFD
Deliver to port	B	S	S	S	S	S	S
Load aboard ship	B	B	S	S	S	S	S
Carried aboard ship	B/C	B/C	B/C	B*/C	S/C	S/C	S/C
Discharged from ship	B	B	B	B	B	S	S
Delivered to named place	B	B	B	B	B	B	S

B) Buyer,  C) Carrier (Ship),  S) Seller
*Buyer is insured by seller

At the destination system

    The captain is responsible for the delivery of freight as agreed upon. Afterwards he may take his paperwork to the correspondent bank or brokerage house to receive his pay. He must also arrange for the sale of speculative cargo.

    To find a buyer for speculative trade goods
    Difficult; Trader/Broker, Edu; 1 day
If a buyer is found roll on the appropriate Trade good reaction table.

Trade good reaction table (2d)

	Low Risk	Mod. Risk	High Risk
2	50	25	0
3	55	40	10
4	60	50	20
5	65	60	35
6	70	70	50
7	80	80	65
8	100	90	80
9	105	100	95
10	110	110	115
11	115	120	135
12	120	130	160
13	125	145	190
14	135	160	220
15	150	180	250
16	160	190	300
17	170	200	350
18	185	225	500

Apply the listed percentage to the lot price for the sale price.
DM's: Trade classification modifier, Broker or Trader skill. Max DM +6

Then subtract the destination worlds TL from the source worlds. Multiply by 10%. This may be a positive or negative number. Multiply the adjusted price by this number.

    Example 1: A City class commerce Carrier with three modular cutters and eleven xtra modules operating as a free trader has jumped into Mora/Spinward Marches [3124] (AA99AC7-F Hi In WTN 7.5) with intentions to jump to Fornice/Spinward Marches [3025]  
(A354A87-C  Hi WTN 7) in a week.
    It has Traderon 777777 Trader-1, Brokeron 777777 Broker-1 and Stewardon 777777 Steward-1 as crew. They have 173 kCr on hand. They are carrying 25 High Pax, 40 Lo Pax and freight, 60 tons Breakbulk, DES, Electronics, Fragile 9+ and cargo:
Moderate risk, 75 kCr, 40 tons RO/RO, Ri Ag, Farm Equipment, 5 prerolled
High Risk, 125 kCr, 24 tons  Dry Bulk, Hi In, Industrial Feedstock, Flammable 5+, 6 prerolled
    After docking at Mora Imperial Highport the customs team comes aboard and clears the ship into the port, clears the high passengers and their baggage. Meanwhile the low passengers are being aroused and they and their baggage are cleared. The buyers agent for the freight comes aboard and after inspecting the cargo, accepts it and clears it through customs paying for any tariffs and cargo handling, giving the captain an invoice to be paid by the sellers agent at a local bank. Finally the crew and cargo are cleared with the ship paying a premium to berth in a docking cradle with hazardous cargo 150 Cr. The captain arranges to top off the tanks with 2230 kl of unrefined fuel at 20 Cr/kl for a total of  44.6 kCr. The computer had shown some glitches and repairs cost 50 kCr. Salaries for the crew total 44.2 kCr. Leaving 106.05 kCr with the freight invoice.
    Brokeron and Traderon go looking at the port clearing house for customers for their goods. Stewardon takes out ads for the trip spending 30 Cr/day (total 150 Cr) for a +1. The captain takes the paperwork from the freight agent to the bank to be paid 72 kCr for the freight contract.
    Meanwhile Brokeron has been selling the Farm Equipment rolling an 9 and 6 he sells the equipment in 1 day. Rolling the second die for price he gets a 2, +5 for the prerolled die, +1 for Broker skill, +4 for the trade goods modifier, +1 for Broker skill and +1 for EDU gives a total of 14 or 160% on the moderate risk table for a sale price of 120 kCr.
    Traderon concentrates on selling the high risk cargo first and rolls a 12 and 9 taking 4 days to sell it. Rolling the second die for price gives a 5, +6 for the prerolled die, +3 for the trade goods modifier, +1 for Trader skill and +1 for EDU for a total of 16. Consulting the trade goood reaction table shows 300% or a sale price of 375 kCr.
    Brokeron begins searching for speculative cargo. Its a class A port so his time interval is one day. He rolls 12 and 9 and must break off the search the day before lift to arrange freight. He rolls 14 on 3die minus 3 plus 1 for Broker skill results in 12. The BTN of the Mora-Fornice route is 12 so 12*12 is 144 tons of freight. Rolling 4D-2 for lot size, and 3d each for type, shipping terms and special handling, we come up with:

20 dton	RO/RO	FAS
18 dton	RO/RO	EXW	Corrosive 11+
18 dton	Drybulk	FOB	Flammable 10+
15 dton	Wetbulk	CIF	Fragile 7+  Explosive 8+
12 dton	Wetbulk	CIF	Explosive 8+
12 dton	Wetbulk	CIF
11 dton	Drybulk	DES
10 dton	Breakbulk	CIF
10 dton	Breakbulk	DES	Fragile 8+
10 dton	Breakbulk	DES
8 dton	Breakbulk	FOB

    At 600 Cr/parsec/ton the freight will bring in 172.8 kCr upon delivery at Fornice
    Meanwhile Traderon has been looking for cargo rolling a 8 and 6 he finds d6-4 lots in 5 days. Rolling on the cargo tables he gets

18 dton	50 kCr Mod. Container	Prefabricated buildings
43 dton	20 kCr Mod. Container	Toys

He attempts to determine the possible sales price for the buildings rolling a 9 and 5. Since Mora has a Class A port his time interval is one hour, it takes him 2 hours. Rolling one die he gets a 6. He decides to buy the lot and records the 6 for the final sale
    Stewardon rolls 2d-2 plus 1 for skill and plus 1 for advertising to end up with 10. As noted before the BTN is 12 so 10*12=120 passenger. Rolling 1d at a time he is able to fill the low berths and sell only high passages at 500 Cr/Low pax and 10 kCr/High pax or 270 kCr.
    The freight has agents on this end and union rule fobid the crew loading ther own cargo. The captain pays the stevedores to load the ship all the while checking placement and restraints.