Freighter

Freighter is a classification for interstellar vessels. These ships are neither armed nor well-protected, consisting almost entirely of cargo bay space for their transported goods. Many freighters are operated entirely by navigation computers and managed by planetary AIs, however some are still crewed by humans.

In the UNSC, many freighters are maintained, mostly to move supplies, food, and equipment to and from fringe worlds in the Outer Colonies. Most of these are maintained not by the UNSC Navy, but by the UNSC Department of Commercial Shipping. Some private companies and individuals maintain their own freighters. These ships can also sometimes be armed and used as warships, particularly by militant Insurrectionist factions, such as the Eridanus Rebels. Freighters operated by the UNSC Navy have the hull classification symbol of DDA. Larger freighters are sometimes also converted into prison ships, used to transport convicts and goods to and from penal colonies.

Design details
There are several types of freighters of varying designs. A common type of freighter is simply a large cargo container attached magnetically to a Propulsion pod which contains the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine and sublight maneuvering systems. These containers can travel up and down space elevator strands, allowing for fast loading and management of cargo. Once on top of the elevator, the propulsion pod is attached to the container, effectively turning it into a slipspace-capable freighter. A colonial high-capacity space tether system can have dozens of propulsion pods and cargo containers operational at a time, all managed by a shipping operations AI. These freighters are mostly automated, and human crews are a rarity. Mail between colonies is often delivered on the freighters' on-board memory.

Laden-class Freighters

 * none known by name.

Parabola-class Freighters

 * Laden

Container/Propulsion pod configuration

 * Bulk Discount
 * Contents Under Pressure
 * Horn of Plenty
 * This End Up
 * Wholesale Price

Unknown class

 * Distancia
 * Finnegan's Wake
 * Mighty Sparrow
 * Mona Lisa (Converted into a prison transport)
 * Petya

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Contact Harvest
 * Halo: The Cole Protocol
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Mona Lisa