All 36 Cargo Types and What They Do in Transport Fever 3

In Transport Fever 3, cargo types are the freight your vehicles carry between industries and towns. Mines, farms and logging camps produce raw materials, factories turn those into new goods, and towns take in finished products like clothes, fuel and furniture. Each cargo type in the standard list plays a specific part in that chain. Knowing how they connect is the key to running routes that keep both industries and towns supplied.

Cement

Cement made from stone for industrial districts.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Cement Plant

Used By

Industrial District

Clay

A raw material used by the Brickworks.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Clay Pit

Used By

Brickworks

Coal

A raw material used with iron ore at a Steel Mill.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Coal Mine

Used By

Steel Mill

Fertilizer

A refinery output that boosts production at farms.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

Booster Product

Produced By

Oil Refinery

Used By

Cotton Farm, Crop Farm, Rubber Farm

Grain

A farm crop brewed into beverages or fed to Livestock Farms.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Crop Farm

Used By

Brewery, Livestock Farm

Iron Ore

A raw material used with coal at a Steel Mill.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Iron Ore Mine

Used By

Steel Mill

Sand

A raw material used by the Glassworks.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Sand Dredger, Sand Pit

Used By

Glassworks

Sawdust

A sawmill by-product used by the Paper Mill.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Saw Mill

Used By

Paper Mill

Stone

A raw material used by the Cement Plant.

Handling Category

Bulk

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Quarry

Used By

Cement Plant

Chemicals

A refinery output used to make dyes and plastic.

Handling Category

Liquid

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Oil Refinery

Used By

Chemical Plant

Crude Oil

A raw material refined into fuel, fertilizer, and chemicals.

Handling Category

Liquid

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Oil Platform, Oil Well

Used By

Oil Refinery

Dyes

A chemical-plant output used by textile factories and printing presses.

Handling Category

Liquid

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Chemical Plant

Used By

Textile Factory, Printing Factory

Fuel

A refinery output delivered to industrial districts.

Handling Category

Liquid

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Oil Refinery

Used By

Industrial District

Rubber

A tropical farm product used by the Tire Factory.

Handling Category

Liquid

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Rubber Farm

Used By

Tire Factory

Logs

A raw timber cargo processed into planks and sawdust.

Handling Category

Flatbed

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Logging Camp

Used By

Saw Mill

Machines

Machines are a flatbed cargo used as a factory input or an industry booster.

Handling Category

Flatbed

Cargo Role

Booster Product

Produced By

Machine Factory

Used By

Industrial District, Vehicle Factory, Logging Camp, Iron Ore Mine, Oil Platform, Oil Well, Sand Dredger

Planks

Planks sawn from logs for factories and industrial districts.

Handling Category

Flatbed

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Saw Mill

Used By

Industrial District, Furniture Factory, Tools Factory

Sheet Metal

A steel-mill output used by canning and vehicle factories.

Handling Category

Flatbed

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Steel Mill

Used By

Canning Factory, Vehicle Factory

Steel

A steel-mill output used by the Machine Factory.

Handling Category

Flatbed

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Steel Mill

Used By

Machine Factory

Vehicles

Vehicles assembled from tires, sheet metal, and machines for industrial districts.

Handling Category

Flatbed

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Vehicle Factory

Used By

Industrial District

Beverages

A brewery output delivered to commercial districts.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Brewery

Used By

Commercial District

Books

A Printing Factory output delivered to commercial districts on Subarctic maps.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Printing Factory

Used By

Commercial District

Bricks

Bricks made from clay for industrial districts.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Brickworks

Used By

Industrial District

Canned Food

Canned food made with fish or meat and sheet metal.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Canning Factory

Used By

Commercial District

Clothes

Clothes made from fabric and dyes for commercial districts.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Textile Factory

Used By

Commercial District

Fabric

Fabric woven from wool for the Textile Factory.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Weaving Mill

Used By

Textile Factory

Fish

A raw catch delivered to commercial districts or a Canning Factory.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Fishing Grounds

Used By

Commercial District, Canning Factory

Furniture

Furniture made from planks and glass for industrial districts.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Furniture Factory

Used By

Industrial District

Glass

Glass made from sand for breweries and furniture factories.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Glassworks

Used By

Brewery, Furniture Factory

Meat

A farm product delivered to commercial districts or a Canning Factory.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Livestock Farm

Used By

Commercial District, Canning Factory

Paper

Paper made from sawdust for the Printing Factory.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Paper Mill

Used By

Printing Factory

Plastic

A chemical-plant output used by machine and tool factories.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Chemical Plant

Used By

Machine Factory, Tools Factory

Tires

Tires made from rubber for the Vehicle Factory.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Intermediate Product

Produced By

Tire Factory

Used By

Vehicle Factory

Tools

Tools supply industrial districts and boost listed raw-material industries.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Booster Product

Produced By

Tools Factory

Used By

Industrial District, Clay Pit, Coal Mine, Fishing Grounds, Quarry, Sand Pit

Vegetables

A farm crop delivered to commercial districts.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

End Product

Produced By

Crop Farm

Used By

Commercial District

Wool

A farm output used by the Weaving Mill.

Handling Category

Goods

Cargo Role

Raw Material

Produced By

Cotton Farm, Livestock Farm

Used By

Weaving Mill

How Raw Materials, Intermediate Products and End Products Connect

Each cargo type plays a role in the production chain. Raw materials come from industries that don't need anything delivered first, such as farms, mines, quarries and logging camps. Intermediate products are made from delivered cargo and then become ingredients for something else, while end products are the finished goods that industrial and commercial districts in towns take in. Booster products are a separate case, and they work a little differently.

Some cargo types have more than one buyer, so a single product can be wanted by a town and by a factory at the same time.

The beverage chain shows how this works. A brewery needs grain from a crop farm and glass from a glassworks, and that glass starts as sand from a sand pit or sand dredger. A factory needs all of its inputs together, so one missing ingredient holds up the whole chain. Once the brewery is running, it can send beverages to commercial districts.

The Four Cargo Groups: Bulk, Liquid, Flatbed and Goods

Apart from roles, every cargo type belongs to one of four handling groups. The group describes how the cargo is stored and carried, not what it's used for, so a cargo can be a raw material and still sit in the bulk group. Knowing the group tells you which kind of vehicle and storage you'll need.

Bulk cargo is kept in silos or heaps before being carried in open wagons and trucks. Liquid cargo is held in tanks or barrels and moved in tankers.

Flatbed cargo is stored out in the open and loaded by cranes onto flat vehicles. Goods is the largest group, stored in freight sheds and carried in closed vehicles.

Cargo Boosters: Fertilizer, Tools and Machines

Fertilizer, Tools and Machines act as boosters. When enough of one arrives at a raw industry, that industry produces more, and the booster is taken from the industry's input stock to do it. The boost stops once there aren't enough items left.

Each booster works on a particular set of raw industries. Fertilizer supports cotton farms, crop farms and rubber farms. Tools support clay pits, coal mines, fishing grounds, quarries and sand pits. Machines support logging camps, iron ore mines, oil platforms, oil wells and sand dredgers.

Boosters are a bonus rather than a requirement. A raw industry still produces without one, so boosters are a way to get more out of an industry you already have.

Which Cargo Types Link the Most Industries

Some cargo types matter more than others because they tie several industries together. Crude oil is a good example. An oil refinery turns it into fuel, fertilizer and chemicals, so one raw cargo feeds three different routes, and the fertilizer it makes can go back to farms as a booster.

The steel mill is another hub. It takes coal and iron ore and produces sheet metal and steel, with sheet metal going to canning factories and vehicle factories and steel going to machine factories.

Sand plays a similar role. The glassworks turns it into glass, which feeds both breweries and furniture factories. Vehicles are where many chains meet, since a vehicle factory builds them from tires, sheet metal and machines.

How to Plan Cargo Pickups and Deliveries

Cargo doesn't leave an industry on its own. Whatever an industry produces waits in place, shown above the industry, until a vehicle on a line set up to collect that cargo type picks it up. You choose where each load goes, so the route is in your hands.

The easiest way to plan is to work backward. Start with a town that accepts the finished product, pick a producer for it, and follow that producer's inputs back to where they come from. Place loading facilities close to each producer and unloading facilities close to each consumer, and check every transfer point along the way as well as the final stop.

Choose vehicles separately for each cargo, since a vehicle that suits one leg may not carry the next cargo. Each cargo type also has its own time limit from pickup to drop-off. If a load takes longer than that to arrive, the customer is not satisfied, and transport time counts toward your income.

Storing Cargo in Warehouses Between Routes

Warehouses hold cargo between two transport legs. Vehicles drop off and collect through a station whose catchment covers the warehouse, so the warehouse itself doesn't need road access. Towns and industries can't take cargo straight from a warehouse, so you still need an onward route to the consumer.

There are two kinds of warehouse. A universal warehouse holds mixed cargo in one shared pool, which suits transfers where several cargo types pass through. The bulk, flatbed, goods and liquid warehouses are specialized, and each module holds one chosen cargo from its group, so two cargo types from the same group need separate modules.

Specialized modules handle cargo faster and pause the cargo's delivery timer while it's stored. A universal warehouse runs at normal speed and keeps the timer going. A paused timer keeps the time that's left, but it doesn't reset the clock or complete the delivery, so the cargo still has to reach its destination.

Which Cargo Types Appear in Each Climate

Not every cargo type appears on every map, because some depend on climate. The game has four climates: temperate, dry, tropical and subarctic. Cement, paper and books only come from subarctic maps, because the cement plant, paper mill and printing factory only appear in that climate.

Rubber and tires follow the same pattern in the tropics. Rubber farms and tire factories only appear in tropical climates, so the rubber-to-tire chain is limited to those maps.

Quarries are available in all four climates, so stone can be produced on any map.

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