Has anybody attempted this before? What I was thinking is that there are several dozen cargo ships that go from a port city near you to your desired destination every day (perhaps less, but that's not important for now). How easy would it be to get on one, kill a few weeks and some food money, and then arrive to where you need to be without spending money on airfare? You could even pay the captain for using the ship's shower, toiletries, sleeping space, etc.

Iz gud, no?

I just look at a website for the costs, and it's actually probably more expensive than flying.

http://www.freightertrips.com/bookings/index.html

US$100 - 125 per day.

But there might be cheaper places where you can book. And only 350 freighters world wide actually transport people.

http://www.travltips.com/specialty.html

These are even more expensive than the other one.

No no no, what I'm saying is similar to catching a ride on a transport train rather than buying a ticket on a passanger train. You'd use a freight ship as a passenger ship without paying the price.

No? :(

No? :(

I don't think they would be very keen on it. Because the voyage can be pretty fucking long, and you're just some kid snooping around on their ship.

From the little bit of reading I did most cargoships don't let passengers aboard. You should inform with a shipping company, but they'll probably say no from the start.

Best thing would be to contact a captain, but I wouldn't know where to start. I actually knew a captain through acquaintances, but he turned batshit insane and they don't talk to him anymore. So.. :(

I don't think they would be very keen on it. Because the voyage can be pretty fucking long, and you're just some kid snooping around on their ship.

From the little bit of reading I did most cargoships don't let passengers aboard. You should inform with a shipping company, but they'll probably say no from the start.

Best thing would be to contact a captain, but I wouldn't know where to start. I actually knew a captain through acquaintances, but he turned batshit insane and they don't talk to him anymore. So.. :(

I was thinking I'd contact somebody who lived in a port city and have them talk to the captain and ask about when he'll return for another voyage (though I'm not sure on this, do cargo ships do the same routes over and over again or does it vary?). Then when he comes back I'll ask him about it. If he doesn't allow it I suppose I could stow away, but that's not very clever, is it?

I was thinking I'd contact somebody who lived in a port city and have them talk to the captain and ask about when he'll return for another voyage (though I'm not sure on this, do cargo ships do the same routes over and over again or does it vary?). Then when he comes back I'll ask him about it. If he doesn't allow it I suppose I could stow away, but that's not very clever, is it?

Depends on what kind of company he sails for I guess. I suspect that oil tankers would probably pretty much do the same route everytime.

You could try to contact some sort of harbor authority? They would have lots of information on what ships are in their habor and where they're going and maybe contact info for captains.

Stowing away would be a bad idea. The sailors of the ships tend to originate from poor countries, and are generally not the friendliest people. An acquaintance of mine was a sailor for a while, in his experience all the sailors were chinese, hard working but extremely unfriendly men. The officers would generally be white, and friendlier, but I don't think they'd be terribly nice to a stow away.

Depends on what kind of company he sails for I guess. I suspect that oil tankers would probably pretty much do the same route everytime.

You could try to contact some sort of harbor authority? They would have lots of information on what ships are in their habor and where they're going and maybe contact info for captains.

Stowing away would be a bad idea. The sailors of the ships tend to originate from poor countries, and are generally not the friendliest people. An acquaintance of mine was a sailor for a while, in his experience all the sailors were chinese, hard working but extremely unfriendly men. The officers would generally be white, and friendlier, but I don't think they'd be terribly nice to a stow away.

It worked in Captains Courageous

I saw on TV a show where someone had used a cargo ship to travel, it wasn't as great as you would expect.

The cargo ships are real slow, expect 40 days at sea.
It still costs money, for the 40 days of food etc etc.

Theres Nothing to do, except
Cleaning everything, you still have to do that.

Everything has to be 'Shipshape', it has to be clean & replaced back where it came from all the time.

They all speak different languages from you & don't talk much anyway.

If you don't get on with someone, theres no way out...

I am a sailor; I work on the Great Lakes. I for one love it. Cargo ships aren't as slow as you might expect. They can make it across the Atlantic in around 10 days. The food is almost always good, and worth paying for.
If you want to get on as a passenger, the best way would be to have some sort of in with a captain or crew member, preferably an officer or a wheelsman. Contacting the company office probably wouldn't be the best idea.

It also would be that much easier to get on a boat from your country, (again as long as you know someone) you wouldn't just go down to the dock and go from boat to boat asking for a ride. Sailors actually talk a lot; if you find the right person and are interested, they'll talk your ear off.

The only two things that eesakiwi said that I can attest to is that there isn't much to do besides sleep and work, and if you get on someones bad side, it can make the trip difficult.

yeah, do you think there are any tramp freighters left to hitch a ride on?Is it easy to get a job on one of these ships temporarily for the voyage only? Are there a whole lot of requirements to do this sort of thing?

Whether or not you can work for you fare, I couldn't tell you. To actually get a proper job on a boat, you need a discharge book, fire fighting training, first aid and safety training at the bare minimum. I go to school for it, to become an officer, so I have a whole lot more to do.

Yeah i was wondering if i could just 'clean my way' across the pacific or whatever..

It is a real job though, like im pretty sure they dont want people just rocking up like woo im a sailor.

Travelling by cargo ship would be totally sweet though.

Running Free where do you go? there's a maritime school just near me in NYC, SUNY Maritime. thanks for the info ->training and a discharge, perhaps even a passport for a proper job.

I go to Georgian in Owen Sound (Ontario). Worst school evar, but oh well. We're getting some new top of the line simulators for this coming year, so it should be interesting.

What about sneaking on board and hiding out between the containers? That could be cool. I mean if they find you they can't very well kick you off, although you will probably be under arrest when you first dock and be deported straight back home. Take drugs, lots of batteries for your walkman and rum. And food, you'll need food.

If you could somehow get inside one of the containers and set up a sleeping bag etc that would rock socks.

my cousins did this and they had the best time in the world. they called and asked a freight/cargo ship company if they could get passage on a ship for a couple weeks and they were accepted with litle to no trouble. they got to sit in the bridge all day and watch sat. tv, eat as much as they wanted and slept in the crews quarters, all they had to do was oddjobs around the ship.

Yes! Do your cousins have MSN?

No they actually dont have much contact with anyone cause they live in alpena, Mi( near the U.P.)

and they dont have any thing like facebook or aim, cause i guess they cant really get good internet service that far north or something

can you at least enlighten us to what company they called and what its ports of call are.

If they can get it in Canada...

And what the above poster said.

Yah it was a Besser concrete transport ship, besser is a concrete machine making company in the northern michigan

Can't get internet access in... Michigan...?

C'mon, let's have a company name please :).

BESSER concrete products

Sorry, for some reason I didn't notice your post right above, thanks :).

no problem
it happens

Anyhow I was looking on the webpage for a company that offered cruises by freighter, they're expensive and a lot of them have an age limit (usually around 75-79) and the ones that don't are generally more expensive.

Well, consider this. What if you hop on a ship without their knowledge, chill out between some of the containers until the ship leaves port, then go to the crew quarters or whatever, and be like "Sup?"

- They will not turn around and take you back to port, it would cost too much
- They will not send a helicopter to take you back to shore, also cost too much
- They probably won't send a boat to pick you up, because the freighter would have to stop, and then start again, which would cost money, and more importantly, time.
- They won't toss you overboard (unless it's some shady mexican or columbian ship)
- They won't let you starve.

Sure, they might confine you to quarters (most captains have the powers somewhat like a police officer or something) and you might be charged by police when you arrived, but it's doubtful you will be sent to prison. It depends on how desperate you are to get home (or away from home). Perhaps if the captain isn't an asshole, and you don't fuck things up too much, and you spin some sad tale, they might let you off with a warning or some shit.

One thing to remember though, is that in some ships, a harbourmaster takes the ship out to sea so as to navigate the dangers of the channel, then the ships captain takes over and the harbourmaster is extracted by boat or helicopter. You will have to wait until well after the boat or heli has left, or they will just put you on that.

they might arrange a rendezvous with the coast guard and have them pick you up, it's not like they aren't going to be in the water anyway.

Airfare is actually, generally, cheaper than traveling as a passenger on a cargo ship. Probably cargo ship travel is even more expensive than a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary II.

Why would you say that if it's free?

I have yet to find ship travel for free, but if I could I'd be halfway across the world by now.