SOME LIGHT READING
Before we begin, let's discuss real-life tramp freighters. A tramp freighter does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call. This is in contrast to a liner, which generally follows a well-established route on a reasonably fixed schedule. In MoSh, it is safe to assume that liners are owned by large corporations and can handily outcompete the players' ship on price.
A tramp freighter can be chartered to carry anything anywhere. They can respond swiftly to changes in market conditions and can also handle one-off shipments to remote destinations (a problem that tends to occur more frequently in MoSh than it does in real life).
A charterer might be a single entity looking to move a single type of goods. A charter might also aggregate freight from lots of different sources. In real life, the latter arrangement is common in air freight (which is a closer analogy to spacecraft than boats are in many respects). In any event, this relationship is arranged by an agent. In a setting where communications move faster than spacecraft, an owner would hope to arrange a cargo through a broker before they made port.
The details of the charterer-owner relationship are not particularly important but common arrangements allocate operating costs and management in various different ways.
Usually, a tramp freighter is paid a flat rate for the cargo they ship. It doesn't matter if you are transporting 800 tons of gold or 800 tons of feathers -- you will be paid the same amount (unless you can negotiate a higher rate for carrying pirate bait). Probably, the going rate for cargo is a few credits over the Efficient Capital Meerkat's 7.5cr/kg break-even cost.
This reality might fly in the face of your instincts (and those of many classic RPG designers!): if you assumed that tramp freighters regularly engaged in speculative trade by laying out their own money to fill their holds with at least 7.5mcr ($30 million dollars) worth of goods you would be mistaken. Tramp freighter crews aren't the type of people who have that kind of money (or credit) handy and you wouldn't trust them with that much money even if they did. And you certainly wouldn't let those spacers borrow against their ship to engage in speculative trade because your interest would be junior to their bank's and too small to justify hiring a repo death squad. Also, spacers aren't qualified to to sell speculative goods (and sitting around in port costs them a million credits per week!).
In real life, tramp freighter rates are determined on exchanges like The Baltic Exchange in London; it's exactly like any other commodity exchange. In MoSh where the distances and local difference are much greater, rates will be set by local exchanges, informal negotiations, or teamster freight cartels (great for you!).
Regardless, the answer to the question "how much can I get for what's in my cargo hold" doesn't depend (much) in what you've got in your cargo hold! Rather, it depends mostly on where you're coming from and where you're going to. This axiom is at the core of the trade system: unless something goes wrong you're likely to roughly break even or, in MoSh, where we want to encourage adventuring, you won't quite break even. It also means that local conditions dictate whether the party is making a profit or scrambling to avoid their creditors.
SPACEPORTS
There are three types of ports.
In a FRONTIER PORT, owners may struggle to pick up enough cargo to pay their mortgage.
In a FRONTIER PORT, roll 1d10 to determine whether you can fill your holds. On 0 you cannot. on 1-2 you can pick up enough cargo to cover 50% of your operating costs. On 8-9 you can cover 150% of your operating costs (being the only game in town is a great negotiating position). Otherwise, you operate at the usual small loss.
In a CORE PORT, owners may struggle to compete against well-established freight lines. If they can't find an unusual destination or cargo, they may have to carry a cargo at a substantial loss or supplement their income by transporting dangerous or illegal goods.
In a CORE PORT, you cover 75% of your operating costs unless you roll a 7-9, in which case you can cover 125% of your operating costs. You may always elect to carry cargo that is DANGEROUS (add +25%) or ILLEGAL (add +25%). These bonuses stack. If you are inclined to roll to determine whether unusual assignments are available, modify that roll in favor of such assignments.
In a MEDIUM PORT, owners will probably be able to unload cargo at cost and will generally be able to fill their holds. However, they are unlikely to find much specialized (and therefore more profitable) work here. Low risk, low reward.
On a 0, you can cover 75% of your operating costs. On a 9, you can cover 125%.
A CLOSING THOUGHT:
Unusual cargo should be left to the WARDEN's discretion. Unusual cargo should always result in at an encounter, major plot event, or should lead directly to one of those things. Otherwise, let the dice fall where they fall. Your players will sort out their shortfalls on their own. The chart is designed to be harsh -- Mothership is a harsh, dystopian setting.
If players want to engage in speculative trade, they should always be required to put up their own cash -- with great risk comes great reward.
It's also possible to carry small, lightweight, but valuable cargos (read: drugs, fugitives, guns and alien artifacts) to supplement bulkier cargo and pick up a bit of extra pocket money. Supplemental cargos should be risky. The results of a RIMWISE check should determine whether such a cargo is available unless the players play out the search for questionable cargo in-game.
Next, we'll consider some random events and cargos at each type of port.
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